ffV^^f-f  fl^->  >  ,*->:;: 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/angelvoicesorworOOtreaiala 


,^y^<7^y^ 


'y^n-n€i^  de/.-'  ■:::Zc^^^r. 


'4^ 


WORDS  OF  COUNSEL   ' 


/or  Ovcrconiing  iJic  World. 


"The  soul  is  cured  of  its  maladies  by  certain  incantations  :  these  incanta- 
tions are  beautiful  reasons,  from  which  temperance  is  generated  in  souls." 

Socrates. 

"These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  in  me  ye  might  have  peace. 
In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation  :  but  be  of  good  cheer,  /  have  ovcr- 
coitte  the  world.''''  Messias. 


A    NEW    AND    ENLARGED    EDITION. 


BOSTON 

Ticknor  and  Fields 
1864 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1863,  by 

TICK.NOR    AND    FIELDS, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


University    Press: 
Welch,    B  i  g  e  l  o  w  ,    a  n  u    Company, 

C  A  M  li  R  I  D  G  E  . 


TO    THOSE 

\V  HO     HAVE    C.  I  V  E  N 

THEIR    BEST   AND    DEAREST 

FOR      god's     work     in      OUR     COUNTRY'S      CAUSE, 

IS      DEDICATED. 


„<Streut  eifri^  in  cinj^fanglic^e  (5cmutl;ev 
2)ftf  ®uten  ull^  ffS  @d;fiicn  ©amentoriier! 
&c  tciineii  uiit  erblubeii  icxt  jii  ^Saimu'n, 
3)tc  ^clfiie  '5)ara6uferffructK  tra^fii.-' 


ANGEL 

VOICES.                                 V 

INDEX   OF   AUTHORS 

AND    WORKS    QUOTED. 

[The  numbers  correspond  with  those  in  the  text.  J 

b 

Unknown. 

47 

John  James  'I'aylor. 

I 

Lyra  Innocentium. 

48 

Saadi. 

2 

Festus. 

49 

Helps. 

3 

Qiiarles. 

50 

Shakespeare. 

4 

Alfred  Tennyson. 

51 

Akenside. 

5 

Whittier. 

52 

Camoens. 

6 

Mrs.  Jameson. 

53 

North  British  Review. 

7 

Mns.  SiLsbee. 

54 

Vaughan. 

8 

Goethe. 

55 

Bacon,  Lord  Verulani. 

9 

Rahel. 

56 

Patience  of  Hope. 

lO 

Montgomery. 

57 

William  Ware. 

II 

Mrs.  Child. 

58 

Cornelius  Matthews. 

12 

J.  R.  Lowell. 

59 

Fe'nelon. 

'3 

]>.  A.  Was.son. 

60 

Feltham. 

H 

R.  Browning. 

61 

Young's  Night  Thoughts. 

IS 

Emerson. 

62 

Herder. 

i6 

Hishop  Hall. 

63 

Kingsley. 

'7 

Milton. 

64 

Christian  Examiner. 

i8 

Sir  Thomas  Browne. 

65 

W.  S.  I^-indor. 

19 

Coleridge. 

66 

N.  P.  Willis. 

20 

Bishop  Taylor. 

67 

Confucius. 

21 

John  Bunyan. 

68 

Economy  of  Life  (A.  1).  1800J. 

22 

C.  A.  Bartol. 

69 

Thomas  De  Quincey. 

23 

Thomas  A  Kempis. 

70 

Dr.  Wadsworth. 

24 

Tragedy  of  Errors. 

71 

Francis  de  Sales. 

25 

A.  Bronson  Alcott. 

72 

Longfellow. 

26 

Edmund  Waller. 

73 

Offering  of  Sympathy. 

27 

William  Treat. 

74 

Charles  Lamb. 

28 

Spenser. 

75 

Arthur  Hallam. 

29 

Barry  Cornwall. 

76 

George  Herbert. 

30 

Victor  Hugo. 

77 

Milues. 

31 

Dryden. 

78 

F.  Schlegel. 

32 

Portsmouth  Journal. 

79 

Barrow. 

33 

Harriet  Martineau. 

80 

James  RLirtineau. 

34 

Jean  Paul  Friedrich  Richter. 

81 

Ruskin. 

SS 

William  Wordsworth. 

82 

Sismondi. 

36 

Thomas  Carlyle. 

83 

Thomas  Hood. 

37 

Plato. 

84 

Henry  Giles. 

38 

Keats. 

85 

W.  C.  Bryant. 

39 

Schiller. 

86 

Mountford. 

40 

Dr.  Fuller. 

87 

Dickens. 

41 

Dr.  John  Brown. 

88 

Edward  Jarvis. 

42 

Jones  Very. 

89 

Hfcnry  Taylor. 

43 

Essays  written  in   Intervals  u 

f    ^ 

Dr.  Watl.s. 

Busines.s. 

91 

Lamartine. 

44 

Chaucer. 

92 

Pope. 

45 

Bettina. 

93 

Thackeray. 

46 

Dr.  Samuel  Brown. 

94 

The  Dial. 

vi 

ANGEL 

VOICES. 

95 

Archytes    on    the   Good    and 

135 

Fields. 

Happy  Man. 

136 

Dr.  South. 

96 

Dr.  Parr. 

'37 

Chambers's  Journal. 

97 

Shelley. 

.38 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 

98 

Sterling. 

139 

Webster. 

99 

Hare. 

140 

Baxter. 

100 

Chapman. 

141 

Spanish  of  Argensolas. 

lOI 

William  Dunbar. 

142 

Dr.  Dewey. 

102 

Thomas  Decker. 

'43 

John  Wilson. 

103 

Crashaw. 

144 

Gerald  Massey. 

104 

Jacob! . 

145 

H.  W.  Beecher. 

105 

Hymns  of  the  Ages. 

146 

Breviary. 

106 

Sir  William  Temple. 

'47 

F.  W.  Robertson. 

107 

Dr.  Walker. 

148 

0.  \V.  Holmes 

io8 

Thoreau. 

'49 

Maria  Lowell. 

109 

Sidney  Smith. 

•50 

Mrs.  Browning. 

no 

Wilkinson. 

151 

A.  A.  Procter. 

III 

Hippodamus  on  Felicity. 

152 

Cowper. 

112 

Pascal. 

153 

Ru.ssian  Poetrv. 

'•3 

Cecil. 

'54 

G.  W.  Bethunc. 

114 

J.  H.  Thorn. 

'55 

W.  D.  Moir. 

115 

A.  L.  Waring. 

156 

Sir  John  Davies. 
Williams. 

n6 

Seed-Grain. 

157 

117 

Thomas  C.  Upham. 

158 

Leopold  Schefer. 

118 

Lyra  Germanica. 

'59 

Edmeston. 

119 

Story  of  To-day. 

160 

Dr.  W.  E.  Channing. 

120 

Reminiscences  of  Thought  and 

161 

G.  W.  Doane. 

Feeling. 

162 

Thomas  Aird. 

121 

E.  H.  Sears. 

'63 

Vita  Nuova. 

122 

Lady  Elizabeth  Carew. 

164 

F.  W.  Newman. 

123 

Leigh  Hunt. 

'65 

Robert  NicoU. 

124 

Thomson. 

166 

Constant. 

125 

Clough. 

167 

Habington. 

126 

Durer's  Artist's  Married  Life. 

168 

Giles  Fletcher. 

127 

Mrs.  Stowe. 

169 

Dirk  Smits. 

128 

Benjamin  Whichcote. 

170 

Dublin  University  Magazine. 

129 

Shirley. 

171 

Jacob  Boehme. 

130 

W.  Irving. 

172 

Gaskill. 

13' 

R.  C.  Waterston. 

'73 

J.  F.  Clarke. 

132 

W.  E.  Channing. 

174 

Author     of     "  Counterparts " 

•33 

M  orison. 

and  "Charles  Auchester." 

134 

Parting  Gift. 

'75 

Marcus  Antoninus. 

t 

Fear  not  to  appriKich 


There  arc  who  love  upon  their  knees 
To  linger  when  their  prayers  are  said, 
And  lengthen  out  their  Litanies, 
In  duteous  care  for  quick  and  dead. 
Thou  of  all  Love  the  Source  and  Guide  ! 
O  may  some  hovering  thought  of  theirs, 
Where  1  am  kneeling,  gently  glide. 
And  higher  waft  these  earth-bound  prayers 

Thus  may  the  heart  of  Linocents 
On  earth,  of  Saints  in  heaven  above, 
Guard,  as  of  old,  our  lonely  tents, 
Till,  as  one  Faith  is  ours,  in  Love 
We  own  all  Churches,  and  are  owned  ; 
Thus  may  He  save,  by  chastenings  keen, 
The  harps  that  hail  His  Uride  enthroned. 
From  wayward  touch  of  hands  unclean. ' 


Stand  thy  ground, 


Prelude 


Remember, 

These  are  "  Reminiscences  of  the  best  hours 
of  Life  for  the  hour  of  Death,"  by  which  we 
may  look  back  from  the  glow  of  the  evening 
to  the  brightness  of  the  morning  of  Youth. 
"  Give  me,"  said  Herder  to  his  son,  as  he  lay 
in  the  parched  weariness  of  his  last  illness, — 
"give  me  a  great  thought,  that  I  may  quicken 
myself  with  it."  Let  these  thoughts,  whether 
they  come  in  the  best  hours  of  life,  or  in  the 
hour  of  death,  teach 


Each  man  to  think  himself  an  act  of  God, 
His  mind  a  thought,  his  Hfe  a  breath  of  God  ; 
And  bid  each  try,  by  great  thoughts  and  good  deeds, 
To  show  the  most  of  Heaven  he  hath  in  him.^ 


Part   1. 


OF    LIFE, 


Think  not,  Earth,  that  I  would  raise 

Weary  forehead  in  thy  praise, 

(Weary  that  I  cannot  go 

Farther  from  thy  region  low,) 

If  were  struck  no  richer  meanings 

From  thee  than  thyself. 

Praised  be  the  mosses  soft 

In  thy  forest  pathways  oft, 

And  the  thorns,  which  make  us  think 

Of  the  thornless  river-brink, 

Where  the  ransomed  tread. 
Praised  be  thy  sunny  gleams, 
And  the  storm  that  worketh  dreams 

Of  calm  unfinished. 
Praised  be  thine  active  days. 
And  thy  night-time's  solemn  need, 
When  in  God's  dear  book  we  read. 
No  night  shall  be  therein. 

Earth,  we  Christians  praise  thee  thus. 
Even  for  the  change  that  comes 
With  a  grief  from  thee  to  us  ! 
For  thy  cradles  and  thy  tombs. 
For  the  pleasant  corn  and  wine. 
And  summer  heat ;  and  also  for 
The  frost  upon  the  sycamore. 
And  hail  upon  the  vine  !  ^50 


The  Angels  in  like  manner  can  utter  in  a  few  words  singular  the  things 
which  are  written  in  a  volume  of  any  book,  and  can  express  such  things, 
or  every  word,  as  elevate  its  meaning  to  interior  wisdom  ;  for  their  speech 
is  such,  that  it  is  consonant  with  affections,  and  every  word  with  ideas. 
Expressions  are  also  varied,  by  an  infinity  of  methods,  according  to  the 
series  of  the  things  which  are  in  a  complex  in  the  thought. —  Sweuexbokg. 

Our  echoes  roll  from  soul  to  soul, 
And  grow  forever  and  forever.* 


ANGEL    VOICES.  I  I 


Being  tempted  :  Angels  ministered  unto  him. 


ANGEL  VOICES, 


To  weary  hearts,  to  mourning  homes, 
God's  meekest  angel  gently  comes  ; 
No  power  has  he  to  banish  pain, 
Or  give  us  back  our  lost  again  ; 
And  yet  in  tenderest  love  our  dear 
And  Heavenly  Father  sends  him  here.^ 

Remember, 

Blessed  is  the  memory  of  those  who  have 
kept  themselves  unspotted  from  the  world  ! 
Yet  more  blessed  and  more  dear  the  memory 
of  those  who  have  kept  themselves  unspotted 
in  the  world.' 

Eyes,  that  with  holy  tears  are  dim, 
Shine,  when  God's  sunbeam  on  them  plays  ; 
In  stricken  souls  angelic  lays 
Are  rising  like  a  happy  hymn. 

And  friends  beloved,  unto  whom 
Sorrow  hath  come  with  keenest  sting 
The  drooping  of  the  angel's  wing 
Shall  bring  the  shade  and  not  the  gloom.' 


12  ANGEL    VOICES. 


Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit. 


Remember, 

True  religion  teaches  us  to  reverence  what 
is  under  us,  to  recognize  humility  and  pov- 
erty, and,  despite  mockery  and  disgrace, 
wretchedness,  suffering,  and  death,  as  things 
divine.* 

The  saint  that  wears  heaven's  brightest  crown 
In  deepest  adoration  bends  ; 
The  weight  of  glory  bows  him  dowTi 
Then  most  when  most  his  soul  ascends  ; 

Nearest  the  throne  itself  must  be 

The  footstool  of  humility.'" 

Remember, 

So  long  as  we  do  not  take  even  the  in- 
justice which  is  done  us,  and  which  forces 
the  burning  tears  from  us, — so  long  as  we 
do  not  take  even  this  for  just  and  right,  we 
are  in  the  thickest  darkness  without  dawn." 

The  bird  that  soars  on  highest  wing 
Builds  on  the  ground  her  lowly  nest ; 
And  she  that  does  most  sweetly  sing 
Sings  in  the  shade  when  all  things  rest ; 

In  lark  and  nightingale  we  see 

What  honor  hath  humility.** 

Remember, 
The  mere  lapse  of  years  is  not  life :  to  eat 


ANGEL    VOICES.  13 


I  am  that  Bread  of  Life. 


and  drink  and  sleep ;  to  be  exposed  to  the 
darkness  and  the  light ;  to  pace  round  in 
the  mill  of  habit,  and  turn  the  wheel  of 
wealth ;  to  make  reason  our  book-keeper, 
and  turn  thought  into  an  implement  of 
trade,  —  this  is  not  hfe.  In  all  this,  but  a 
poor  fraction  of  the  consciousness  of  hu- 
manity is  awakened  ;  and  the  sanctities  still 
slumber  which  make  it  most  worth  while  to 
be.  Knowledge,  truth,  love,  beauty,  good- 
ness, faith,  alone  give  vitality  to  the  mechan- 
ism of  existence. 

The  laugh  of  mirth  that  vibrates  through 
the  heart,  the  tears  that  freshen  the  dry  wastes 
within,  the  music  that  brings  childhood  back, 
the  prayer  that  calls  the  future  near,  the  doubt 
which  makes  us  meditate,  the  death  which 
startles  us  with  mystery,  the  hardship  which 
forces  us  to  struggle,  the  anxiety  that  ends  in 
trust,  are  the  true  nourishment  of  our  natu- 
ral being.  ^^ 


We  live  in  deeds,  not  years  ;  in  thoughts,  not  breaths  ; 
In  feelings,  not  in  figitres  on  a  dial. 
We  should  count  time  by  heart-throbs.     He  most  lives 
Who  thinks  most,  feels  the  noblest,  acts  the  best ; 
And  he  whose  heart  beats  quickest  lives  the  longest, 
Lives  in  one  hour  more  than  in  years  do  some 


H 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


He  that  eateth  of  this  bread  shall  live  forever. 

Whose  fat  blood  sleeps,  as  it  slips  along  their  veins. 
Life  is  but  a  means  unto  an  end  ;  that  end. 
Beginning,  mean,  and  end  to  all  things  —  God. 
The  dead  have  all  the  glory  of  the  world.  ^ 

Remf.mbek 

The  wealth  of  a  man  is  the  number  of 
things  which  he  loves  and  blesses,  which  he 
is  loved  and  blessed  by. 

For  amid  all  life's  guests 

There  seems  but  worthy  one  —  to  do  men  good  ; 
It  matters  not  how  long  we  live,  but  how ; 
For  as  the  parts  of  one  mankind  while  here. 

We  live  in  every  age.* 

I 
Remember', 

This,  and  especially  the  type  which  fol- 
lows ;  place  it  securely  among  the  multitude 
of  wares  in  the  store-house  of  "  beautiful  mem- 
ories." 

There  is  a  fine  engraving  of  Jean  Paul 
Richter,  surrounded  by  floating  clouds,  all 
of  which  are  angels'  faces  ;  but  so  soft  and 
shadowy,  that  they  must  be  sought  for,  to  be 
perceived.  It  was  a  beautiful  idea  thus  to  en- 
viron Jean  Paul,  for  whosoever  reads  him  with 
earnest  thoughtfulness  will  see  heavenly  fea- 
tures perpetually  shining  forth  through  the 
golden  mists  or  rolling  vapor Remem- 
ber,—  This  picture  embodies  a  great  spiritual 


ANGEL    VOICES.  15 


Praise  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  his  benefits. 

truth.  In  all  clouds  that  surround  the  soul. 
there  are  angel  faces,  and  we  should  see  them 
if  we  were  calm  and  holy.  It  is  because  we 
are  impatient  of  our  destiny,  and  do  not 
understand  its  use  in  our  eternal  progression, 
that  the  clouds  which  envelop  it  seem  like 
black  masses  of  thunder,  or  cold  and  dismal 
obstructions  of  the  sunshine.  If  man  looked 
at  his  being  as  a  whole,  or  had  faith  that  all 
things  were  intended  to  bring  him  into  har- 
mony with  the  Divine  will,  he  would  grate- 
fully acknowledge  that  spiritual  dew  and  rain, 
wind  and  lightning,  cloud  and  sunshine,  all 
help  his  growth,  as  their  natural  forms  bring 
to  maturity  the  flowers  and  the  grain.  "  Who- 
soever quarrels  with  his  fate  does  not  under- 
stand it,"  says  Bettine ;  and  among  all  her 
inspired  sayings,  she  spoke  none  wiser." 

High  natures  must  be  thunder-scarred 

With  many  a  searing  wrong  ; 
Naught  unmarred  with  struggles  hard 

Can  make  the  soul's  sinews  strong. '- 

Remembek. 

Dante  places  in  his  lowest  Hell  those  who 
in  life  were  melancholy  and  repining  without  a 
cause,  thus  profaning  and  darkening  God's 
blessed  sunshine,  —  "  Tristi  fummo  nel  aer  dol- 


1 6  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Strive  to  enter  in. 

ce  "  ;  and  in  some  of  the  ancient  Christian  sys- 
tems of  virtues  and  vices,  melancholy  is  unholy 
and  a  vice ;  cheerfulness  is  holy  and  a  virtue. 

Lord  Bacon  also  makes  one  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  moral  health  and  goodness  to 
consist  in  "  a  quick  sense  of  felicity  and  a  no- 
ble satisfaction." 

What  moments,  hours,  days,  of  exquisite 
felicity  must  Christ  our  Redeemer  have  had, 
though  it  has  become  too  customary  to  place 
him  before  us  only  in  the  attitude  of  pain 
and  sorrow  !  Why  should  he  be  always 
crowned  with  thorns,  bleeding  with  wounds, 
weeping  over  the  world  he  was  appointed  to 
heal,  to  save,  to  reconcile  with  God .''  The 
radiant  head  of  Christ  in  Raphael's  "  Transfig- 
uration" should  rather  be  our  ideal  of  Him 
who  came  to  "bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to 
preach  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord." 

"AH  mine  is  thine,"  the  sky-soul  saith  : 

"  The  wealth  I  am,  must  thou  become  : 
Richer  and  richer  breath  by  breath,  — 
Immortal  gain,  immortal  room  ! " 
And  since  all  his 
Mine  also  is, 
Life's  gift  outmns  my  fancies  far. 
And  drowns  the  dream 
In  larger  stream. 
As  morning  drinks  the  morning  star.  ^ 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 7 

That  he  who  loveth  God  love  his  brother  also. 

Remember, 

Inquiringly,  —  If  we  float  over  the  surface 
of  society  with  perpetual  sunshine  and  favor- 
ing airs,  how  can  we  sound  the  shoals  and 
gulf  which  lie  below?® 

Night  brings  out  stars,  as  sorrow  shows  us  truths." 

Remembek, 

By  earnest  endeavor,  to  gladden  the  human 
circle  in  which  we  live,  —  to  open  our  hearts 
to  the  gospel  of  life  and  nature,  seizing  each 
moment  and  the  good  which  it  brings,  be  it 
friendly  glance,  spring  breeze,  or  flower,  ex- 
tracting from  every  moment  a  drop  of  the 
honey  of  eternal  life/^ 

"  True  bliss  is  to  be  found  in  holy  life  ; 
In  charity  to  men,  and  love  to  God." 

Probe  the  profound  of  thine  own  nature,  Man  ! 
And  thou  may'st  see  reflected,  e'en  in  life, 
The  worlds,  the  heavens,  the  ages  ;  by  and  by, 
The  coming  come.^ 

Rememher. 

That  unto  him  who  works,  and  feels  he  works, 
This  same  grafid year  is  ever  at  the  doors. 

Reme  MIU.K. 

Those  who  would  understand  the  courses 
of  the  heavens  above,  must  first  of  all  recog- 
nize the  heaven  in  men. 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


Blessed  are  the  merciful. 


Remember, 

There  is  a  law  of  neutralization  of  forces, 
which  hinders  bodies  from  sinking  beyond  a 
certain  depth  in  the  sea  ;  but  in  the  ocean  of 
baseness,  the  deeper  we  get,  the  easier  the 
sinking.  As  for  the  kindness  which  Milton 
and  Burns  felt  for  the  Devil,  I  am  sure  that 
God  thinks  of  him  with  pity  a  thousand 
times  to  their  once,  and  the  good  Origen  be- 
lieved him  not  incapable  of  salvation.^" 

Remember. 
Mercy  is 

mightiest  in  the  mightiest ;  it  becomes 
The  throned  monarch  better  than  liis  crown  ; 
His  sceptre  shows  the  force  of  temporal  power, 
The  attribute  to  awe  and  majesty, 
Wherein  doth  sit  the  dread  and  fear  of  kings  ; 
But  mercy  is  above  this  sceptred  sway, 
It  is  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  kings  ; 
It  is  an  attribute  to  God  himself.^ 

Remember, 

There  never  was  a  right  endeavor  but  it 
succeeded.  Patience  and  patience,  we  shall 
win  at  the  last.  We  must  be  very  suspicious 
of  the  deceptions  and  elements  of  time.  It 
takes  a  good  deal  of  time  to  eat  or  to  sleep, 
or  to  earn  a  hundred  dollars,  and  a  very  little 
time  to  entertain  a  hope  and  an  insight  which 


ANGEL    VOICES.  19 

Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  : 

becomes  the  light  of  our  life;  —  daily  routine 
makes  but  little  impression  ;  but  in  the  soli- 
tude to  which  every  man  is  always  returning, 
he  has  a  sanity  and  revelations,  which  in  his 
passage  into  new  worlds  he  will  carry  with 
him/*      Thus  may 

' '  Our  yesterdays  look  backward  with  a  smile. " 

Remember, 

The  simplest  faith,  be  it  only  deep  and 
trustful,  the  very  smallest  idea  of  a  mission 
in  life  assigned  by  God, — be  it  only  lovingly 
and  clearly  seen,  —  "lifteth  the  poor  out  of 
the  dust,"  and  "to  them  that  have  no  might 
increaseth  strength."  As  of  old  it  banished 
disease,  and  couched  the  blind,  and  soothed 
the  maniac,  by  miracles  of  power,  so  does  it 
still  heal  and  bless  by  its  miracles  of  love.  It 
puts  a  divine  fire  into  the  dullest  soul,  and 
draws  in  Saul  also  among  the  prophets  ;  it 
turns  the  peasant  into  the  apostle,  and  the 
apostle's  meanest  follower  into  the  martyr.*^ 

all  ambitious  iipwards  tending, 

Like  plants  in  mines,  which  never  saw  the  sun, 
But  dream  of  him,  and  guess  where  he  may  be, 
They  do  their  best  to  climb,  and  get  to  him. " 

Remember, 

There  do   remain   dispersed   in  the  soil  of 


20  ANGEL    VOICES. 


They  shall  be  filled. 


human  nature  divers  seeds  of  goodness,  of  be- 
nignity, of  ingenuity,  which  being  cherished, 
excited,  and  quickened  by  good  culture,  do, 
by  common  experience,  thrust  out  flowers 
very  lovely,  and  yield  fruits  very  pleasant  of 
virtue  and  goodness." 

Good  deeds  are  very  fruitful.  Out  of  one 
good  action  of  ours,  God  produces  a  thou- 
sand ;  the  harvest  whereof  is  perpetual.  If 
good  deeds  were  utterly  barren  and  incom- 
modious, I  would  seek  after  them  from  a  con- 
sciousness of  their  own  goodness ;  how  much 
more  shall  I  now  be  encouraged  to  perform 
them,  that  they  are  so  profitable  both  to  my- 
self and  others  .'' '°      Since  men  may, 

"after  all  their  tribulations  long, 
See  golden  days  fruitful  of  golden  deeds, 
With  joy  and  peace  triumphing,  and  fair  truth." 

Remember, 

There  is  no  felicity  in  that  the  earth  adores. 
That  wherein  God  himself  is  happy,  the  holy 
angels  are  happy,  in  whose  defect  the  devils 
are  unhappy,  —  that  dare  I  call  happiness. 
Whatsoever  conduceth  unto  this  may,  with 
an  easy  metaphor,  deserve  that  name.  What- 
soever else  the  world  terms  happiness  is  to  me 
a  story  out  of  Pliny,  a  tale  of  Boccace  or  Ma- 


ANGEL    VOICES.  21 

As  he  prayed,  his  countenance  was  altered. 

lizspini,  an  apparition  or  a  neat  delusion,  where- 
in there  is  no  more  of  happiness  than  the 
name.  Bless  me  in  this  life  with  but  peace 
of  my  conscience,  command  of  my  affections, 
the  love  of  my  dearest  friends,  and  I  shall  be 
happy  enough  to  pity  Caesar.  These  are,  O 
Lord,  the  humble  desires  of  my  most  reason- 
able ambition,  and  all  I  dare  call  happiness 
on  earth  ;  wherein  I  set  no  rule  or  limit  to  thy 
hand  of  providence.  Dispose  of  me  according 
to  the  wisdom  of  thy  pleasure.  Thy  will  be 
done,  though  in  my  undoing.'* 

Remember, 

Believing  with  me,  to  pray  with  all  your 
heart  and  strength,  with  the  reason  and  the 
will,  to  believe  vividly  that  God  will  listen  to 
your  voice  through  Christ,  and  verily  do  the 
thing  he  pleaseth  thereupon, — that  is  the  last, 
the  greatest  achievement  of  the  Christian's 
warfare  on  earth.'* 

He  prayeth  well  who  loveth  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast. 

He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 

All  things  both  great  and  small ; 
For  the  same  God  who  loveth  us, 

He  made  and  loveth  all.^* 


22 


AXGEL    VOICES. 


Blessed  af)-e  the  pure  in  heart. 


Remember, 

Prayers  are  but  the  body  of  the  bird ;  de- 
sires are  its  angel's  wings.* 

In  the  greatest  battle  of  his  life 

Man  stands  by  himself  alone  ; 

No  hand  save  his  and  the  foes  to  the  strife. 

No  heart  to  beat  high  but  his  own. 

Yet  the  war  goes  on  right  desperately. 
And  whether  he  stand  or  fall 
Himself  and  God  alone  may  see 
Till  the  judgment-day  of  alL 


Remember, 

In  prayer  it  is  better  to  have  a  heart  with- 
out words,  than  words  without  a  heart.^ 

Therefore  let  every  man  study  his  prayers, 
and  read  his  duty  in  his  petitions.  For  the 
body  of  our  prayer  is  the  sum  of  our  duty ; 
and  as  we  must  ask  of  God  whatsoever  we 
need,  so  we  must  labor  for  all  that  we  ask." 

More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of.     Wherefore  let  thy  voice 
Rise  like  a  fountain  for  me  night  and  day  ; 
For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats, 
That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain. 
If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer. 
Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend  ? 
For  so  the  whole  round  world  is  every  way 
Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God.* 


ANGEL    VOICES.  23 

They  shall  see  God. 

Remember, 

The  making  one  object,  in  outward  or  in- 
ward nature,  more  holy  to  a  single  heart,  is 
reward  enough  for  a  life ;  for  the  more  sym- 
pathies we  gain  or  awaken  for  what  is  beauti- 
ful, by  so  much  deeper  will  be  our  sympathy 
for  that  which  is  most  beautiful,  —  the  human 
soul." 

Those  there  are 
Whose  hearts  have  a  look  southward,  and  are  open 
To  the  whole  noon  of  nature. 
Be  thou  of  such.* 

Remember, 

"Who  are  the  most  godlike  of  men  ?  The 
question  might  be  a  puzzling  one  unless  our 
language  answered  it  for  us,  —  the  godliest." 

Thou,  O  Spirit,  that  dost  prefer 
Before  all  temples  the  upright  heart  and  pure, 
Instruct  me. " 

Re:\iember. 

Only  the  Purified  are  the  Pure.^ 

Remember. 

It  is  only  the  finite  that  has  wrought  and 
suffered  ;  the  infinite  lies  stretched  in  smiling 
repose.** 

God  is  the  Perfect  Poet, 
Who  in  creation  acts  his  own  conceptions. 


24 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


Become  as  little  children. 


Shall  man  refuse  to  be  aught  else  than  God  ? 
Man's  weakness  is  his  glory,  —  for  the  strength 
Which  raises  him  to  Heaven  and  near  God's  self 
Came  spite  of  it ;  God's  strength  his  glor>'  is, 
For  thence  came  with  our  weakness  sympathy. 
Which  brought  God  down  to  earth  a  man  like  us." 

When  a  man  is  so  far  advanced  in  the 
Christian  Hfe,  as  not  to  seek  consolation  from 
any  created  thing,  then  does  he  first  begin  per- 
fectly to  enjoy  God;  then  "in  whatsoever 
state  he  is,  he  will  therewith  be  content "  ; 
then  neither  can  prosperity  exalt,  nor  adver- 
sity depress  him,  but  his  heart  is  wholly  fixed 
and  established  in  God,  who  is  his  All  in  All.^ 

Then 

Love  is  a  celestial  harmony.* 
His  thoughts  were  as  a  pyramid  up-piled, 
On  whose  far  top  an  angel  stood  and  smiled. 
Yet  in  his  heart  he  was  a  little  child. 


Remicmbi.k, 

Wisdom,  earthly  \visdom 
Is  the  last  wealth  a  man  can  take  to  heaven  : 
More  cumbersome  it  is  than  bags  of  gold. 

And  would  you  know  what  station  God  prefers, 

And  what  respect  he  has  for  human  learning, 

Inquire  where  Christ  was  bom,  and  what  his  breeding.-* 

Remember 

Whoever  speaks  not  to  the  love  and  wonder 


ANGEL    VOICES.  25 

Blessed  is  the  man  that  niaketh  the  Lord  his  tnist. 

of  mankind,  says    little    deserving   of  lasting 
interest."^ 

For  all  we  know 

Of  what  the  blessed  do  above 

Is  that  they  sing,  and  that  tliey  love."^ 

Remember 

Schiller's  words  ;  they  are  to  the  mother  of 
young  Carlos.  "  Tell  him,  that  when  become 
a  man  he  shall  reverence  the  dreams  of  his 
youth,  that  he  shall  not  open  his  heart,  the 
tender,  divine  flower,  to  the  deathly  insect  of 
boasted  superior  wisdom." 

Remembek, 

Only  a  great  pride,  that  is,  a  great  and  rev- 
erential repose  in  one's  own  being,  renders 
possible  a  noble  humility.^* 

Remember, 

If  the  will,  which  is  the  law  of  our  nature, 
were  withdrawn  from  our  memory,  fancy,  un- 
derstanding, and  reason,  no  other  hell  could 
equal,  for  a  spiritual  being,  what  we  should 
then  feel,  from  the  anarchy  of  our  powers. 
It  would  be  conscious  madness,  —  a  horrid 
thought ! " 

Remember, 

Man  cannot  be  tittcrly  lost  to  good,  for  then 


26  ANGEL    VOICES. 


Labor  not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth. 


he  would  be  a  devil  at  once.     Thus  to  talk  is 
absurd.'*     Even  Montgomery's  "Satan," 

Though  by  nature  a  whirlpool  of  desires, 
And  mighty  passions,  perilously  mixed. 
Yet,  with  the  darkness  of  the  demon  world. 
Had  he  sometliing  of  the  light  of  heaven. 

Remember, 

That  victory  belongs  to  him  who  is  constant 
in  faith  and  courage.  That  Peter,  by  faith, 
walked  upon  the  water,  until,  momentarily 
losing  his  faith,  he  began  to  sink.  A  his- 
tory, Goethe  said,  he  loved  better  than  any ; 
as  it  expresses  the  noble  doctrine  that  man, 
through  faith  and  animated  courage,  may 
come  off  victor  in  the  most  dangerous  enter- 
prises, while  he  may  be  ruined  by  a  mo- 
mentary paroxysm  of  doubt."^ 

Remember, 

He  hath  riches  sufficient  who  hath  enough 
to  be  charitable.^* 

And  forget  not,  that  Mammon  was 

"  the  least  erected  Spirit  that  fell 
From  heaven  ;  for  even  in  heaven  his  looks  and  thoughts 
Were  always  downward  bent ;  admiring  more 
The  riches  of  heaven's  pavement,  trodden  gold, 
Than  aught  divine  or  holy  else  enjoyed 
In  vision  beatific."  " 

Poor  and  content  is  rich.°° 


ANG^L    VOICES.  2/ 

Thou  art  my  rock. 

I  do  rather  choose 
To  be  the  lord  of  those  that  riches  have, 
Than  have  them  to  myself  and  be  their  servile  slave.  ^ 

Remember, 

Everything  perishes  except  Truth,  and  the 
worship  of  Truth,  and  Poetry,  which  is  its 
enduring  language.'* 

'*  Rich  are  the  diligent,  who  can  command 
Time,  nature's  stock  !  and  could  his  hour-glass  fall, 
Would,  as  for  seed  of  stars,  stoop  for  the  sand, 
And  by  incessant  labor  gatlier  all. " 

Remember, 

It  is  only  the  stout  heart,  and  strong,  reso- 
lute will,  that  enables  one  in  truth  to  say, 

This  life  of  mine 
Must  be  lived  out,  and  a  grave  thoroughly  earned. 

Pitch  then  thy  project  high  : 
Sink  not  in  spirit     Who  aimeth  at  the  sky 
Shoots  higher  much  than  if  he  meant  a  tree. 
Let  thy  mind  still  be  bent,  still  plotting  where, 
And  when,  and  how,  the  business  may  be  done."' 

L'Enfant  chantait ;  la  mere  au  lit,  extenuee, 
Agonisait,  beau  front  dans  I'ombre  se  penchant ; 
La  Mort  au  dessus  d'elle  errait  dans  la  nuee, 
Et  j'ecoutais  ce  rale,  et  j'entendait  ce  chant. 

L'Enfant  avait  cinq  ans  et  pres  de  la  fenetre, 
Ses  rires  et  ses  jeux  faisaient  un  charmant  bruit ; 
Et  la  mere  k  cote  de  ce  pauvre   doux  etre 
Qui  chantait  tout  le  jour,  toussait  toute  la  nuit. 


28  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Jesus  opened  his  mouth  and  taught  them. 

La  mere  alia  dormir  sous  les  dalles  du  cloltre  : 

Et  le  petit  enfant  se  remit  a  chanter 

-  La  douleur  est  un  fruit ;  Dieu  ne  le  fait  pas  croitre 
Sur  la  branche  trop  faible  encore  pour  le  porter.* 

Remember, 

In  joy  and  affliction,  and  resolve  with  Sie- 
benkas :  "  It  is  thy  intention  to  try  my  soul, 
good  Destiny,  and  therefore  dost  thou  put  it 
into  every  position,  as  a  man  does  his  watch, 
into  a  perpendicular  and  a  horizontal  position, 
easy  and  uneasy  ones,  in  order  to  see  whether 
it  goes  well,  and  shows  the  time  correctly. 
Verily  it  shall!"** 

Greatness  and  goodness  are  not  means,  but  ends  ; 

Hath  he  not  always  treasures,  always  friends, 

The  good,  great  man?     Three  treasures — Love  and  Light, 

And  calm  Thoughts,  regular  as  infant's  breath  :  — 

And  three  firm  friends,  more  sure  than  day  and  night, 

Himself,  his  Maker,  and  the  Angel  Death.  ^* 

Remember, 

Speech  is  the  light,  the  morning  of  the  mind  ; 
It  spreads  the  beauteous  images  abroad. 
Which  else  lie  furled  and  shrouded  in  the  soul.^ 

Life  is  a  suggestion  of  the  Spirit  through 
the  mind,  giving  us  news  of  Him  in  guise  of 
queries  for  beginners  in  the  study  of  it^ 

Remember, 

A  child  should  be  approached  with  rever- 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


29 


Is  it  not  written  in  your  law,  I  said,  Ye  are 


ence  as  a  recipient  of  the  Spirit  from  above. 
The  best  of  books  claims  the  best  of  persons 
and  the  gracious  moments  to  make  its  mean- 
ing clear,  else  the  reading  and  listening  are 
but  a  sounding  pretence,  and  of  no  account. 
The  Spirit  within  must  invite  and  prepare  the 
heart  instantly,  —  inspiration  answer  inspira- 
tion, and  so  answering,  informing  and  renew- 
ing ;  a  Pentecost  and  an  awakening  from  on 
high.  I  have  wished  these  books  were  opened 
with  the  awe  belonging  to  the  eminent  person- 
alities portrayed  therein,  thinking  them  best 
read  when  the  glow  of  the  sentiment  kindles 
the  meaning  into  life.^ 

Yet  forget  not  that,  the  man  who  cannot  en- 
joy his  own  natural  gifts  in  silence,  and  find 
his  reward  in  the  exercise  of  them,  will  gener- 
ally find  himself  badly  off.* 

Remember. 

The  eloquent  man  is  he  who  is  no  eloquent 
speaker,  but  who  is  inwardly  drunk  with  a  cer- 
tain belief'^ 

Remember, 

"As  no  man  liveth  to  himself,"  so  no  man 
sinneth  to  himself;  and  every  vagrant  habit 
uprooted  from  the  young  and  ignorant  —  ev- 


30  ANGEL    VOICES. 

I  have  declared  thy  faithfulness  and  thy  salvation. 

ery  principle  of  duty  strengthened  —  every 
encouragement  to  reform  offered,  and  rightly 
persevered  in  —  is  casting  a  shield  of  safety 
over  the  property,  life,  peace,  and  every  true 
interest  of  community  ;  so  that  it  may  be  said 
of  this  most  emphatically,  as  of  every  duty 
of  man,  "  Knowing  these  things,  happy  are  ye 
if  ye  do  them."  ^ 


Beneath  this  starry  arch, 

Naught  resteth  or  is  still ; 

But  all  things  hold  their  march, 

As  if  by  one  great  will. 

Moves  one,  move  all : 

Hark  to  the  footfall ! 

On,  on,  forever ! 

Yon  sheaves  were  once  but  seed : 
Will  ripens  into  deed  ; 
As  eave-drops  swell  the  streams, 
Day  thoughts  feed  nightly  dreams  ; 
And  sorrow  tracketh  wrong. 
As  echo  follows  song. 
On,  on,  forever ! 

By  night,  like  stars  on  high, 

The  hours  reveal  their  train  ; 
They  whisper,  and  go  by, 
"  I  never  watch  in  vain." 
Moves  one,  move  all : 
Hark  to  the  footfall ! 
On,  on,  forever  ! 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


31 


If  we  love  one  another,  God  dwelleth  in  us. 


They  pass  the  cradle-head, 
And  there  a  promise  shed  ; 
They  pass  the  moist  new  grave, 
And  bid  rank  verdure  wave  ; 
They  bear  through  every  cHme 
The  harvests  of  all  time, 
On,  on,  forever  !  ^ 

Remember, 

If  thy  heart  yearns  for  love,  be  loving  ;  if 
thou  wouldst  free  mankind  be  free  ;  if  thou 
wouldst  have  a  brother  frank  to  thee,  be  frank 
to  him  :  "  But  what  will  people  say  ? "  —  Eter- 
nal and  sure  is  this  promise,  "  Blessed  are  the 
meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth."  Only 
have  faith  in  this,  and  thou  wilt  live  high 
above  the  rewards  and  punishments  of  that 
spectral  giant,  which  men  call  Society.  Be 
found  with  thine  own  conscience  in  that  circle 
of  duties,  which  widens  ever,  till  it  enfolds  all 
beings  and  touches  the  throne  of  God.'^ 

Be  noble  !  and  the  nobleness  that  lies 
In  other  men,  sleeping,  but  never  dead, 
Will  rise  in  majesty  to  meet  thine  own.* 

Remember. 

To  think  gently  of  all,  and  include  all  with- 
out exception  in  the  circle  of  our  kindly  sym- 
pathies, not  thrusting  out  even  the  common 
hangman   (though  if  athirst,   I   should   prefer 


32  ANGEL    VOICES. 

What  God  hath  cleansed,  that  call  not  thou  common. 

receiving  water,  if  it  required  waiting,  from 
other  hands  than  his).  Yet  what  is  the  hang- 
man but  a  servant  of  pubHc  opinion  ?  And 
what  is  the  law  but  an  expression  of  public 
opinion  ?  And  if  public  opinion  is  brutal,  and 
thou  a  component  part  thereof,  art  thou  not 
the  hangman's  accomplice  ?  In  the  name  of 
our  common  Father,  sing  thy  part  of  the  great 
chorus  in  the  truest  time,  and  thus  bring  this 
crashing  discord  into  harmony.^* 

Man  is  dear  to  man :  the  poorest  poor 

Long  for  some  moments  in  a  weary  life 

When  they  can  know  and  feel  that  they  have  been 

Themselves  the  fathers  and  the  dealers  out 

Of  some  small  blessings  ;  have  been  kind  to  such 

As  needed  kindness,  for  this  single  cause. 

That  we  have  all  of  us  one  human  heart.  ^ 

Drinking,  singing,  talking,  none  of  these 
things  are  good  in  themselves,  but  the  mode  in 
which  they  are  done  stamps  them  with  its 
own  nature ;  and  that  which  is  done  well  is 
good,  and  that  which  is  done  ill  is  evil.^ 

Re  MEM  HER. 

Rightly  viewed,  no  object  is  insignificant ; 
all  objects  are  as  windows,  through  which  the 
philosophic  eye  looks  into  infinitude  itself. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  33 


How  beautiful  are  thy  works  ! 


Now,  if  this  earthly  love  has  power  to  make 
Men's  being  mortal,  immortal ;  to  shake 
Ambition  from  their  memories,  and  brim 
Their  measure  of  content ;  what  merest  whim 
Seems  all  this  poor  endeavor  after  fame 
To  one,  who  keeps  within  his  steadfast  aim 
A  love  immortal,  an  immortal  too.^ 

Howe'er  it  be,  it  seems  to  me 

'T  is  only  noble  to  be  good  ; 

Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets 

And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood.' 

Remember, 

It  is  only  through  the  morning  gate  of  the 
beautiful  that  you  can  penetrate  into  the  realm 
of  knowledge.  That  which  we  feel  here  as 
beauty,  we  shall  one  day  know  as  truth. '^ 

His  grave  rebuke, 
Severe  in  youthful  beauty,  added  grace 
Invincible  :  abashed  the  Devil  stood, 
And  felt  how  awful  goodness  is,  and  saw 
Virtue  in  her  shape,  how  lovely.^' 

Remember, 

That  a  beautiful  form  is  better  than  a  beau- 
tiful face  ;  a  beautiful  behavior  is  better  than  a 
beautiful  form  ;  it  gives  a  higher  pleasure  than 
statues  or  pictures  ;  it  is  the  finest  of  the  fine 
arts.^" 


34  ANGEL    VOIOES. 

Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song. 

The  idea  of  her  life  shall  sweetly  creep 

Into  his  study  of  imagination  ; 

And  every  lovely  organ  of  her  life 

Shall  come  apparelled  in  more  precious  habit, 

More  moving  delicate,  and  full  of  life, 

Into  tlie  eye  and  prospect  of  his  soul, 

Than  when  she  lived  indeed.*" 

Remember, 

Upon  sight  of  beautiful  persons,  to  bless 
God  in  his  creatures,  to  pray  for  the  beauty  of 
their  souls,  and  to  enrich  them  with  inward 
graces  to  be  answerable  unto  the  outward. 
Upon  sight  of  deformed  persons,  to  send  them 
inward  graces,  and  enrich  their  souls,  and  give 
them  the  beauty  of  the  resurrection.^* 

Remember, 

In  thankfulness,  thy  Heavenly  Father,  for 
every  manifestation  of  human  love.  Thank 
him  for  all  experiences,  be  they  sweet  or  bit- 
ter, which  help  to  forgive  all  things  and  enfold 
the  whole  world  with  blessing.  "  What  shall 
be  our  reward,"  asks  Swedenborg,  "  for  loving 
our  neighbor  as  ourselves  in  this  life  .''  That 
when  we  become  angels,  we  shall  be  enabled 
to  love  Jiim  better  than  ourselves."  This  is  a 
reward  pure  and  holy ;  the  only  one  which 
my  heart  has  not  rejected,  whenever  offered  as 
an  incitement  to  goodness.     It  is  this  which, 


ANGEL    VOICES.  35 


O  that  men  would  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness. 

chiefly,  makes  the  happiness  of  lovers  more 
nearly  allied  to  heaven  than  any  other  emo- 
tions experienced  by  the  human  heart.  Each 
loves  the  other  better  than  self;  each  is  will- 
ing to  sacrifice  all  to  the  other,  nay,  finds  joy 
therein.  This  is  it  that  surrounds  them  with 
a  golden  atmosphere,  and  tinges  the  world 
with  rose-color.  A  mother's  love  has  the  same 
angelic  character  ;  more  completely  unselfish, 
but  lacking  the  charm  of  perfect  reciprocity." 

Neither  shalt  thou  forget  thy  song,  when, 
as  Bettine  has  said,  "The  whole  country  looks 
as  if  it  had  turned  its  face  towards  its  Cre- 
ator." 

Heaven  "disapproves  that  care,  though  wise  in  show, 
That  with  superfluous  burden  loads  tlie  day, 
And  when  God  sends  a  cheerful  hour,  refrains."  " 

Remember, 

"  Gratitude  is  memory  of  the  heart."  There- 
fore forget  not  to  say  often,  with  Bettine,  "  I 
have  all  I  have  ever  enjoyed." 

Remembek. 

If  thou  beest  not  so  handsome  as  thou 
wouldest  have  been,  thank  God  thou  art  no 
more  unhandsome  than  thou  art.  It  is  his 
mercy  thou  art  not  the  mark  for  passengers' 


7,6  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Seek  not  honor  one  of  another. 

fingers  to  point  at,  a  heteroclite  in  nature 
with  some  member  defective  or  redundant. 
Be  glad  that  thy  clay  cottage  hath  all  the 
necessary  rooms  thereto  belonging,  though  the 
outside  be  not  so  fairly  plastered  as  some 
others.** 

Remember, 

You  must  in  a  certain  sense  rezvard  God. 
You  cannot  give  him  money,  for  the  silver 
and  gold,  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills,  are 
all  his  already,  but  you  can  give  him  your 
grateful  lives ;  you  can  give  him  your  hearts ; 
and,  as  old  Mr.  Henry  says,  "  Thanksgiving  is 
good,  but  thanks-living  is  better."  *^ 

It  is  not  life  vipon  thy  gifts  to  live, 
But  to  grow  fixed  with  deeper  roots  in  thee  ; 
And  when  the  sun  and  shower  their  bounties  give, 
To  send  out  thick-leaved  limbs  :  a  fruitful  tree, 
Whose  green  head  meets  the  eye  for  many  a  milC*^ 

Remember. 

A  great  deal  of  discomfort  arises  from  over- 
sensitiveness  about  what  people  may  say  of 
you  or  your  actions.  Many  unhappy  persons 
seem  to  imagine  that  they  are  always  in  an 
amphitheatre,  with  the  assembled  world  as 
spectators  ;  whereas  they  are  playing  to  empty 
benches  all  the  while.** 


ANGEL    VOICES.  ^y 


If  any  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself 

Fly  from  the  prease,  and  dwell  with  soothfastnesse, 

Suffic^p  unto  thy  good  though  it  be  small, 

For  horde  hath  hate,  and  climbing  tickelnesse, 

Prease  hath  envy  and  wele  (wealth)  is  blent  over  all, 

Savour  no  more  than  thee  behove  shall. 

Rede  well  thyselfe  that  other  folke  canst  rede. 

And  trouth  thee  shall  deliver,  it  is  no  drede. 

Paine  thee  not  ech  crooked  to  redresse 
In  tnist  of  her  that  tourneth  as  a  ball. 
Create  rest  standeth  in  little  businesse, 
Beware  also  to  spurn  againe  a  nail. 
Strive  not  as  doth  a  crocke  with  a  wall, 
Deme  thyselfe  that  demest  others  dede, 
And  trouth  thee  shall  deliver,  it  is  no  drede. 

That  thee  is  sent  receive  in  buxomnesse. 
The  wrestling  of  this  world  asketh  a  fall, 
Here  is  no  home,  here  is  but  wildemesse. 
Forth,  pilgrime  !  forth,  beast,  out  of  thy  stall ! 
Look  up  on  high  and  thanke  God  of  all  ! 
Forsake  thy  lusts,  and  let  thy  ghost  thee  lede 
And  trouth  thee  shall  deliver,  it  is  no  drede.** 


Remember, 

The  Lord  creates  occasions  of  contest,  to 
bless  us  with  opportunities  of  victory." 

Who  has  ever  loved  who  has  reserved  an}- 
thing  for  himself  ?     Reservation  is  self-love.'' 

Remember, 

The  unselfish  must  be  economical.'"' 


38  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Jesus  said,  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world. 

Remember. 

The  old  Polytheism  was  Nature,  in  the 
plenitude  of  sensuous  wealth,  projecting  the 
shadow  of  her  gorgeous  but  coarse  imagery 
on  the  pure  expanse  of  the  Infinite  ;  not  the 
might  and  glory  of  the  Infinite  coming  down 
on  Nature  with  resistless  influence,  to  chasten 
and  spiritualize  her  wild  energies,  and  humble 
them  in  reverent  submission  to  the  law  of  the 

Eternal Our  intensest  conviction  of  the 

presence  of  God,  our  dearest  persuasion  that  he 
has  drawn  nigh  to  us,  is  not,  however,  when  we 
are  the  quiet  and  contemplative  spectators  of 
His  works,  or  the  passive  recipients  of  outward 
influence  ;  but  in  those  higher  exercises  of  faith 
which  engage  our  wills,  and  put  us  on  virtuous 
effort,  and  excite  us  to  active  co-operation  with 
Him,  —  when  we  seek  Him,  and  believe  that 
we  have  found  Him,  in  the  glad  appropriation 
of  every  duty  and  the  cheerful  acceptance  of 
every  sacrifice  which  he  demands." 

Remember, 

That  maxim  is  of  earth,  of  fallible  man, 
which  says,  "The  voice  of  the  people  is  the 
voice  of  God."  It  may  be,  but  with  equal 
probability  also  the  voice  of  the  Devil.  That 
the  voice  of  ten  millions  of  men  calling  for  the 


ANGEL    VOICES.  39 


He  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness, 

same  thing  is  a  spirit,  I  believe ;  but  whether 
that  be  the  spirit  of  heaven  or  hell,  I  can  only 
know  by  trying  the  thing  called  for  by  the 
prescript  of  reason."  Even  then  that  knowl- 
edge must  be  infinite,  embracing  the  whole 
cycle  of  God's  universe.  Better  said,  by  the 
same,  "  Public  opinion  is  the  average  preju- 
dices of  the  community." 

Remember, 

Heaven  is  not  separated  from  temporal  life 
by  an  abyss  that  in  death  we  must  overleap  ; 
heaven  begins  immediately  where  we  first  feel 
impelled  for  the  conception  of  the  divine.*^ 

Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy.^ 

Remember, 

The  beloved  of  the  Almighty  are  the  rich 
who  have  the  humility  of  the  poor,  and  the 
poor  who  have  the  magnanimity  of  the  rich.^^ 

Remember, 

Would  you  make  yourself  dear  to  every  do- 
mestic scene  you  enter,  form  the  habit  of  for- 
bearance, and  all  your  kindred  will  bless  your 
face  for  its  own  benediction.  Your  very  com- 
ing in  at  the  door  shall  be  as  a  balm  :  and  that 
comfort  is  not  insignificant  which  is  repeated, 
a  drop  of  sweetness  in  every  draught,  a  thou- 
sand and  a  million  times.^' 


40  ANGEL    VOICES. 

But  shall  have  the  light  of  life. 

Remember, 

For  thy  consolation  in  the  hurry  of  Hfe,  that 
perhaps  the  short  hasty  gazes  cast  up  any 
day  in  the  midst  of  business,  in  a  dense  city, 
at  the  heavens,  or  at  a  bit  of  tree  seen  amid 
buildings,  —  gazes  which  partake  almost  more 
of  a  sigh  than  a  look,  have  in  them  more  of 
intense  appreciation  of  the  beauties  of  nature 
than  all  that  has  been  felt  by  an  equal  num- 
ber of  sight-seers  enjoying  large  opportunity 
of  seeing,  and  all  their  time  to  themselves. 
Like  a  prayer  offered  up  in  the  midst  of  ev- 
ery-day  life,  these  short,  fond  gazes  at  nature 
have  something  inconceivably  soothing  and 
beautiful  in  them/' 

Remember, 

The  highest  and  most  profitable  learning 
is  the  knowledge  and  contempt  of  ourselves  ; 
and  to  have  no  opinion  of  our  own  merit,  and 
always  to  think  well  and  highly  of  others,  is 
an  evidence  of  great  wisdom  and  perfection. 
Why  dost  thou  prefer  thyself  to  another,  since 
thou  mayst  find  many  who  are  more  learned 
than  thou  art,  and  better  instructed  in  the  will 
of  God.^ 

The  man  forget  not,  though  in  rags  he  lies, 

And  know  the  mortal  through  the  crown's  disguise.'' 


ANGEL    VOICES.  41 

Of  such  are  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Just  like  Love  is  yonder  rose  ; 
Heavenly  sweetness  round  it  throws, 
And  in  the  midst  of  briers  it  blows, 
Just  like  Love  !*^ 


Remember, 

Life  —  strong  life  and  sound  life  —  that  life 
which  lends  approaches  to  the  Infinite,  and 
takes  hold  on  Heaven,  is  not  so  much  a  pro- 
gress as  it  is  a  resistance.^ 

Why  should  we  be  cowed  by  the  name  of 

Action  ? We  know  that  the  ancestor  of 

every  action  is  a  thought To  think   is 

to    act Let  us,  if  we  must  have  great 

actions,  make  our  own  so.  All  action  is  of 
infinite  elasticity,  and  the  least  admits  of  be- 
ing inflated  with  celestial  air,  until  it  eclipses 
the  sun  and  moon.  Let  us  seek  one  peace  by 
fidelity.  Let  me  do  my  duties.  Why  need  I 
go  gadding  into  the  scenes  and  philosophy 
of  Greek  and  Italian  history,  before  I  have 
washed  my  own  face,  or  justified  myself  to  my 
own  benefactors  .''  How  dare  I  read  Washing- 
ton's campaigns,  when  I  have  not  answered 
the  letters  of  my  own  correspondents  .-'  Is  not 
that  a  just  objection  to  much  of  our  reading } 
It  is  a  pusillanimous  desertion  of  our  work  to 
gaze  after  our  neighbors.^" 


42 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


Martha,  Martha,  thou  art  careful  and  troubled  about  many  things ; 

Remember, 

That  religion  is,  in  its  essence,  the  most 
gentlemanly  thing  in  the  world.  It  will,  alone 
and  of  itself,  gentilize,  if  unmixed  with  cant ; 
and  I  know  of  nothing  else  that  will." 

There  is  no  wisdom,  no  perception  of  truth, 
which  asks  for  more  than  to  be  loved.""^ 

Remembek, 

We  cannot  make  our  home  too  attractive. 
Let  it  be  the  home  of  the  affections  ;  a  parlor 
for  conversation,  a  pantry  of  comforts,  yet  not 
reminding  us  too  broadly  of  the  brute  satis- 
factions. Let  its  chambers  open  eastward, 
admitting  sunshine  and  the  sanctities,  for  our 
and  still  more  for  the  children's  sakes.  They 
covet  the  clear  sky,  delighting  in  the  blue 
they  left  so  lately,  nay,  cannot  leave  in  com- 
ing into  Nature,  whereof  they  are  ever  asking 
the  news  of  it.  The  gay  enthusiasts  must  run 
eagerly,  and  never  have  enough  of  it.  Their 
poise  and  their  plenitude  rebuke  us.  So  the 
poet  sings  sadly,  yet  truly  for  some  of  us^ :  — 

"  Happy  those  early  days  when  I 
Shined  in  my  angel  infancy  ; 
Before  I  taught  my  soul  to  wound 
My  conscience  with  a  sinful  sound, 
Or  taught  my  soul  to  fancy  aught 
But  a  white  celestial  thought, 


ANGEL    VOICES.  43 

But  one  thing  is  needful. 

Or  had  the  black  art  to  dispense 
A  several  sin  to  every  sense  ; 
But  felt  through  all  this  fleshly  dress 
Bright  shoots  of  everlastingness. "  '^ 

Remember, 

Animate  the  heart,  and  it  no  longer  thirsts 
for  common  air,  but  for  ether.  No  one  is  less 
vain  than  a  bride.^* 

Remember, 

Two  sentiments  alone  suffice  for  man,  were 
he  to  live  the  age  of  the  rocks,  —  love,  and  the 
contemplation  of  the  Deity.**" 

Remember. 

The  word  of  Solon  to  Croesus,  when  in 
ostentation  he  showed  him  his  gold  :  "  Sir,  if 
any  other  come  that  hath  better  iron  than 
you,  he  will  be  master  of  all  this  gold." "" 

Remember, 

The  sober  Christian  may  possibly  feel  a 
shock  in  finding  Novalis  describe  his  faith  as  a 
foe  "  to  art,  to  science,  even  to  enjoyment "  ; 
yet  does  not  his  own  daily  experience  prove 
that  the  holding  of  the  one  thing  needful  in- 
volves the  letting  go  of  many  things  lovely 
and  desirable,  and  that  in  thought  as  well  as 
in  action  he  must  go  on,  "  ever  narrowing  his 


44  ANGEL    VOICES. 

If  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things. 

way,  avoiding  much.'"  And  this,  not  because 
his  intellect  is  darkened  to  perceive  beauty 
and  excellence,  or  his  affections  dulled  to  em- 
brace them,  but  because  human  life  and  hu- 
man capacity  are  bounded  things ;  the  heart 
can  be  devoted  but  to  one  object,  and  the 
winning  of  the  great  prizes  of  earthly  endeavor 
asks  for  an  intensity  of  purpose,  which  in  the 
Christian  has  found  another  centre.^ 

Remember 

God's  livery  is  a  very  plain  one ;  but  its 
wearers  have  good  reason  to  be  content.  If  it 
have  not  so  much  gold  lace  about  it  as  Sa- 
tan's, it  keeps  out  foul  weather  better,  and  is 
besides  a  great  deal  cheaper.*" 

Remember, 

He  who  loves  with  purity  considers  not  the 
gift  of  the  lover,  but  the  love  of  the  giver."^ 

Remember. 

If  it  be  God  whom  we  lov^e  in  loving  one, 
then  shall  the  bright  halo  of  her  spirit  expand 
itself  over  all  existence,  till  every  human  face 
we  look  upon  shall  share  in  its  transfiguration, 
and  the  old  forgotten  traces  of  brotherhood 
be  lit  up  by  it ;  and  our  love,  instead  of  pin- 
ing discomforted,  shall  be  lured  upward  and 


ANGEL    VOICES.  45 


Open  not  thine  heart  to  every  man. 


Upward  by  low,  angelic  voices,  which  recede 
before  it  forever,  as  it  mounts  from  brighten- 
insr  summit  on  the  delectable  mountains  of 
aspirations  and  resolve  and  deed/* 

Remember, 

While  others  are  curious  in  the  choice  of 
good  air,  and  chiefly  solicitous  for  healthful 
habitations,  study  thou  conversation,  and  be 
critical  in  thy  consortion.  The  aspects,  con- 
junctions, and  configurations  of  the  stars,  which 
mutually  diversify,  intend,  or  qualify  their  in- 
fluences, are  but  the  varieties  of  their  nearer 
or  farther  conversation  with  one  another,  and 
like  the  consortion  of  men,  whereby  they  be- 
come better  or  worse,  and  even  exchange  their 
natures. 

He  who  must  needs  have  company,  must 
needs  have  sometimes  bad  company.  Be  able 
to  be  alone.  Lose  not  the  advantage  of  soli- 
tude, and  the  society  of  thyself;  nor  be  only 
content,  but  delight  to  be  alone  and  single 
with  Omnipresency.  He  who  is  thus  pre- 
pared, the  day  is  not  uneasy,  nor  the  night 
black  unto  him." 

Remember, 

A  good  jest,  well  timed,  for  misfortune,  may 


46  AXGEL    VOICES. 


Edify  one  another. 


prove  as  food  and  drink,  —  strength  to  the 
arm,  digestion  to. the  stomach,  courage  to  the 
heart.  It  is  better  than  wisdom  or  wine.  A 
prosperous  man  may  afford  to  be  melancholy : 
but  if  the  miserable  are  so,  they  are  worse 
than  dead,  —  but  it  is  sure  to  kill  them.^' 

The  heart-gates,  mighty,  open  either  way,  — 
Come  they  to  feast,  or  go  they  forth  to  pray."^ 

Remembkk. 

Any  boy  can  teach  a  man,  but  it  takes  a 
man  to  teach  a  boy  anything.** 

Remembi-.k. 

When  the  great  God  lets  loose  a  thinker  on 
this  planet,  then  all  things  are  at  risk.  There 
is  not  a  piece  of  science,  but  its  flank  may  be 
turned  to-morrow ;  there  is  not  any  literary 
reputation,  nor  the  so-called  eternal  names  of 
fame,  that  may  not  be  revised  and  condemned. 

He  claps  wings  to  the  sides  of  all  the 

solid  old  lumber  of  the  world." 

Yea,  copyists  shall  die,  spark  out  and  out ; 
Minds  which  combine  and  make,  alone  can  tell 
The  bearings  and  the  workings  of  all  tilings 
In  and  upon  each  other.* 

Rememder 
The  gentle  words  of  Meta  Klopstock,  who 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


47 


The  life  of  man  upon  earth  is  a  continual  warfare. 

said,  "Though  I  love  my  friends  dearly,  and 
though  they  are  good,  I  have,  however,  much 
to  pardon,  except  in  the  single  Klopstock 
alone.  He  is  good,  really  good,  —  good  in  all 
the  foldings  of  his  heart.  I  know  him  and 
sometimes  I  think,  if  we  knew  otJiers  in  the  same 
manner,  the  better  we  should  find  them.  For  it 
may  be  an  action  displeases  us  which  would 
please  us  if  we  knew  its  true  aim  and  whole 
extent. 

Remember, 

If  a  man  is  not  rising  upwards  to  be  an 
angel,  depend  upon  it  he  is  sinking  down- 
wards to  be  a  devil.  He  cannot  stop  at  the 
beast.  The  most  savage  of  men  are  not 
beasts  ;    they  are  worse,   a  great   deal  worse. 

As  there  is  much  beast  and  some  devil  in 
man,  so  is  there  some  angel  and  some  God 
in  him.  The  beast  and  the  devil  may  be 
conquered,  but,  in  this  life,  never  wholly  de- 
stroyed." 

Life  is  a  business,  not  good  cheer 

Ever  in  warres. 
The  sun  still  shineth  there  or  here, 

Whereas  the  stars 
Watch  an  advantage  to  appear. 

O  that  I  were  an  orange-tree, 
That  busie  plant ! 


48  ANGEL    VOICES. 


In  your  patience  possess  ye  your  souls. 


Then  should  I  ever  laden  be, 

And  never  want 
Some  fruit  for  him  that  dressed  me." 

There  sits  not  on  the  wilderness'  edge 

In  the  dusk  lodges  of  the  wintry  North, 
Nor  couches  in  the  rice-field's  slimy  sedge. 

Nor  on  the  cold,  wild  waters  ventures  forth, 
Who  waits  not,  in  the  pauses  of  his  toil. 

With  hope  that  spirits  in  the  air  may  sing ; 
Who  upward  turns  not  at  propitious  times. 

Breathless,  his  silent  features  listening, 
In  desert  and  in  lodge,  on  marsh  and  main. 

To  feed  his  hungry  heart  and  conquer  painJ^ 

Remembf.k', 

Dear  to  us  are  those  who  love  us  :  the  swift 
moments  we  spend  with  them  are  a  compen- 
sation for  a  great  deal  of*  misery  ;  they  enlarge 
our  life ;  but  dearer  are  those  who  reject  us 
as  unworthy,  for  they  add  another  life ;  they 
build  a  heaven  before  us  whereof  we  had  not 
dreamed,  and  thereby  supply  to  us  new 
powers  out  of  the  recesses  of  the  spirit, 
and  urge  us  to  new  and  unattempted  perform- 
ances." 

Remember, 

There  are  "eternal  homes,  built  deep  in 
poor  men's  hearts,"  for  such  as  do  God's  work 
on  earth.*" 


ANGEL    VOICES.  49 

Charity  never  faileth. 

Remember, 

So  to  regard  the  absent  who  are  out  of 
hearing  as  virtually  under  the  protection  of 
that  law  of  Jewish  charity, — 

" Thou  shalt  not  curse  the  deaf."** 

Remember, 

That  love  never  contracts  its  circles  :  they 
widen  by  as  fixed  and  sure  a  law  as  those 
abound  a  pebble  cast  into  still  water.  The 
angel  of  love,  when,  full  of  sorrow,  he  fol- 
lowed the  first  exiles,  behind  whom  the  gates 
of  Paradise  shut  with  that  mournful  clang, 
(of  which  some  faint  echo  has  lingered  in 
the  hearts  of  all  their  offspring,)  unwittingly 
snapped  off  and  brought  away  in  his  hand  the 
seed-pod  of  one  of  the  never-failing  flowers 
which  grew  there.  Into  all  dreary  and  deso- 
late places  fell  some  of  its  blessed  kernels  ; 
they  asked  but  little  soil  to  root  themselves 
in,  and  in  this  narrow  patch  of  our  poor  clay 
they  sprang  most  quickly  and  sturdily.  Gladly 
they  grew,  and  from  them  all  time  has  been 
sown  with  whatever  gives  a  higher  hope  to 
the  soul,  or  makes  life  nobler  and  more  god- 
like ;  while  from  the  over-arching  sky  of  po- 
esy  sweet   dew   forever   falls,    to    nurse    and 


50  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Charity  suffereth  long,  and  envieth  not 

keep  them  green  and  fresh  from  the  world's 
dust.'* 

Like  bird  to  sunshine  fled  he  to  a  smile." 


Remember, 

If  he  loves  me,  the  merit  is  not  mine,  the 
fault  will  be  if  he  ceases.^ 

Remember, 

It  was  not  by  retiring  into  himself,  but  by 
going  out  of  himself,  that  Christ  overcame 
THE  WORLD  ;  not  by  spiritual  pathology  and 
self-torture,  but  by  veritable  "  sufferings,"  that 
he  "  became  perfect "  ;  not  by  measuring  his 
own  emotions,  but  by  oblivion  of  them  amid  a 
crowd  of  toils,  a  succession  of  fulfilled  resolves, 
a  profuse  expenditure  of  life  and  effort  having 
others  for  their  object,  that  he  rose  above  the 
dignity  of  men,  and  ripened  the  divinest  spirit 
for  the  skies.* 

Remember, 

There  is  "  woe  to  the  nation  or  the  society 
in  which  the  individualizing  and  separating 
process  is  going  on  in  the  human  mind ! 
Whether  it  take  the  form  of  a  religion  or  of  a 
philosophy,  it  is  at  once  the  sign  and  cause  of 
senility,  decay,  and  death.     If  a  man  begins 


1 

ANGEL    VOICES.  51 


Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens. 


to  forget  he  is  a  social  being,  a  member  of  a 
body,  and  that  the  only  truths  which  are 
worthy  objects  of  his  philosophical  search 
are  those  which  are  equally  true  for  every 
man,  which  will  equally  avail  every  man, 
which  he  must  proclaim  as  far  as  he  can  to 
every  man,  from  the  proudest  sage  to  the 
meanest  outcast,  —  he  enters,  I  believe,  into  a 
lie,  and  helps  forward  the  dissolution  of  that 
society  of  which  he  is  a  member.  I  care  little 
whether  what  he  holds  be  true  or  not.  If  it 
be  true,  he  has  made  it  a  lie  by  appropriating 
it  proudly  and  selfishly  to  himself,  and  by  ex- 
cluding others  from  it.  He  has  darkened  his 
own  power  of  vision  by  that  act  of  self-appro- 
priation, so  that,  even  if  he  sees  a  truth,  he 
can  see  it  only  refractedly,  discolored,  by  the 
medium  of  his  own  private  likes  and  dislikes, 
and  fulfil  that  great  and  truly  philosophic 
law,  that  he  who  loveth  not  his  brother  is 
in  darkness,  and  knoweth  not  whither  he 
goeth.** 

Rememuek. 

All  good  conversation,  manners,  and  action 
come  from  a  spontaneity  which  forgets  usages 
and  makes  the  moment  great.^* 


52  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life. 

Action  is  transitory,  —  a  step,  a  blow. 

The  motion  of  a  muscle  —  this  way  or  that  — 

'T  is  done 

Suffering  is  permanent,  obscure  and  dark, 
And  has  the  nature  of  infinity.^ 

Rememukk. 

Our  contentments  stand  upon  the  tops  of 
pyramids,  ready  to  fall  off,  and  the  insecurity  of 
their  enjoyments  abrupteth  our  tranquillities. 
To  enjoy  true  happiness,  we  must  travel  into  a 
very  far  country,  and  even  out  of  ourselves  ; 
for  the  pearl  we  seek  for  is  not  to  be  found  in 
the  Indian,  but  in  the  empyrean  ocean." 

Remember, 

Prayer  is  a  constant  source  of  invigoration 
to  self-discipline  ;  not  the  thoughtless  praying 
which  is  a  thing  of  custom,  but  that  which  is 
sincere,  earnest,  watchful.  Let  a  man  ask 
himself  whether  he  really  would  have  the 
thing  he  prays  for ;  let  him  think,  while  he  is 
praying  for  a  spirit  of  forgiveness,  whether, 
even  at  that  moment,  he  is  disposed  to  give 
up  the  luxury  of  anger.  If  not,  what  a  hor- 
rible mockery  it  is.*' 

Remember 

To  make  thy  door  fast  behind  thee,  and 
invite  Jesus,  thy  beloved,  to  come  unto  thee. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  53 

Commune  with  thy  heart  and  be  still. 

and    enlighten    thy   darkness    with   his    light. 
Abide  faithfully  with  him  in  this  retirement, 
for  thou  canst  not  find  so  much  peace  in  any 
other  place. ^^ 
Thus  shah  thou  make  "  thine  eyes  the  homes  of  silent  prayer. "  * 

Rf.membi'.r, 

No  man  can  safely  go  abroad  who  does  not 
love  to  stay  at  home.^ 

Said  Walter  Scott,  I  have  been  always 
careful  to  place  my  mind  in  the  most  tran- 
quil posture  which  it  can  assume  during  my 
private  exercises  of  devotion. 

Be  not  sorry  that  men  do  not  know  you, 
but  be  sorry  that  you  are  ignorant  of  men." 

RememlU'-.r. 

"There  is  a  hush  in  our  nation's  heart.  An 
expectancy,  a  waiting  and  longing  for  some 
unspoken  word,  which  sometimes  seems  aw- 
ful in  the  bounty  of  its  promise.  I  know  men 
educated  to  speak,  with  the  burden  of  a  speak- 
er's vocation  on  their  hearts,  but  now  these 
many  years  remaining  heroically  silent ;  the 
fountains  of  a  fresh  consciousness  sweet  with- 
in them,  but  not  yet  flowing  into  speech,  and 
they  too  earnest,  too  expectant,  too  sure  of 
the   future,  to  say  aught   beneath  the  strain. 


54  ANGEL    VOICES. 


Thy  speech  bewrayeth  thee. 


'  Why  do  you  not  speak  ? '  was  inquired  of  one. 
'Because  I  can  keep  silent,'  he  said.  'And 
the  word  I  am  to  utter  will  command  me.'  " 

Remember, 

Wouldst  thou  see  thine  insufficiency  more 
plainly,  view  thyself  at  thy  devotions  ;  to  what 
end  was  religion  instituted,  but  to  teach  thee 
thine  infirmities }  to  remind  thee  of  thy  weak- 
ness ?  to  show  thee,  that  from  Heaven  alone 
thou  art  to  hope  for  good  .^** 

Rememuhr, 

In  all  thy  life's  course,  that  Truth  is  strong 
next  to  the  Almighty ;  she  needs  no  policies, 
no  stratagems,  no  licensings,  to  make  her  vic- 
torious !  Though  all  the  winds  of  doctrine 
were  let  loose  to  play  upon  the  earth,  so 
Truth  be  in  the  field,  we  injure  her  to  mis- 
doubt her  strength.  Let  Truth  and  False- 
hood grapple :  who  ever  knew  Truth  put  to 
the  worse  in  a  free  and  open  encounter  ? " 

Truth,  crashed  to  earth,  shall  rise  again  ; 

The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers  ; 
While  Error,  wounded,  writhes  in  pain, 

And  dies  amidst  her  worshippers.*^ 

Remember, 

A  word  spoken  in  season,  at  the  right  mo- 
ment, is  the  mother  of  ages.^ 


ANGEL    VOICES.  55 

We  were  foolish,  living  in  malice  and  envy. 

Let  it  be  said  of  thee,  — 

"  Words  of  good  cheer  were  most  native  to  her  lips." 

Remember. 

Reserve  is  the  truest  expression  of  respect 
towards  those  who  are  its  objects."" 

Remember, 

It  is  not  always  the  dark  place  that  hinders, 
but  sometimes  the  dim  eye." 

'T  is  by  comparison  an  easy  task 
Earth  to  despise  ;  but  to  converse  with  heaven,  — 
This  is  not  easy."" 

Know, 
Without  or  star  or  angel  for  their  guide, 
Who  worship  God  sliall  find  him.      Humble  love. 
And  not  proud  reason,  keeps  the  door  of  heaven. 
Love  finds  admission  where  proud  science  fails."' 

Remember, 

Augustine  calls  eiivy  the  besetting  sin  of  the 
Devil,  who  envied  Jehovah  in  heaven,  and 
Adam  in  paradise,  and  the  essence  of  whose 
torment  is  a  thought  of  happiness  which  he 
cannot  share.  To  an  envious  soul  true  joy  is 
impossible  ;  —  if  perfect  in  conditions  of  man- 
hood, it  will  writhe  at  the  thought  of  angelic 
spheres  and  pinions ;  if  raised  to  Gabriel's 
ministry  in  the  very  presence  of  God,  it  will 


56  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Let  us  walk  honestly,  not  in  strife  and  envying. 

be   in   anguish   at   the   sight   of  that   higher 
throne  and  the  loftier  One  that  sitteth  on  it/" 

Wisdom  consists  in  being  very  humble,  as  if 
we  were  incapable  of  anything,  yet  ardent,  as 
if  we  could  do  all." 


Remember, 

Since  the  stars  of  heaven  do  differ  in  glory  ; 
since  it  hath  pleased  the  Almighty  hand  to 
honor  the  north  pole  with  lights  above  the 
south  ;  since  there  are  some  stars  so  bright 
that  they  can  hardly  be  looked  upon,  some 
so  dim  that  they  can  scarcely  be  seen,  and 
vast  numbers  not  to  be  seen  at  all  even  by 
artificial  eyes  ;  read  thou  the  earth  in  heaven, 
and  things  below  from  above.  Look  content- 
edly upon  the  scattered  difference  of  things, 
and  expect  not  equality  in  lustre,  dignity,  or 
perfection  in  regions  or  persons  below  ;  where 
numerous  numbers  must  be  content  to  stand 
like  lacteous  or  nebulous  stars,  little  taken 
notice  of,  or  dim  in  their  generations.  All 
which  may  be  contentedly  allowable  in  the 
affairs  and  ends  of  this  world,  and  in  suspen- 
sion unto  what  will  be  in  the  order  of  things 
hereafter,  and  the  new  system  of  mankind 
which  will  be  in  the  world  to  come ;  when  the 


ANGEL    VOICES.  57 

I  ascend  unto  my  Father  and  your  Father. 

last  may  be  the  first,  and  the  first  the  last ; 
when  Lazarus  may  sit  above  Caesar,  and  the 
just  obscure  on  earth  shall  shine  like  the  sun 
in  heaven  ;  when  personations  shall  cease,  and 
histrionism  of  happiness  be  over ;  when  reality 
shall  rule,  and  all  shall  be  as  they  shall  be  for- 
ever.** 

Remembek, 

The  world  is  not  so  framed  that  it  can  keep 
quiet.  Could  we  perfect  human  nature,  we 
might  expect  perfection  everywhere ;  but  as 
it  is,  there  will  always  be  this  wavering  hither 
and  thither  ;  one  part  must  suffer  while  the 
other  is  at  ease.  Envy  and  egotism  will  be 
always  at  work  like  bad  demons,  and  party 
conflicts  (and  those  of  sects)  find  no  end.  Do 
what  you  were  born  or  have  learned  to  do,  and 
avoid  hindering  others  from  doing  the  same. 

Trace  the  forms 
Of  atoms  moving  with  incessant  change 
Their  elemental  round  ;  behold  the  seeds 
Of  being,  and  the  energy  of  life 
Kindling  the  mass  with  ever-active  flame  ; 
Then  to  the  secrets  of  the  working  mind 
Attentive  turn." 

Remember. 

A  judicious  silence  is  always  better  than 
truth  spoken  without  charity. 


58  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Abundance  of  idleness  was  in  her  and  in  her  daughters. 

Remember. 
The  idle  are 


"  Like  ships  that  sailed  for  sunny  isles, 
But  never  came  to  shore."' 


Remember, 

What  wonders  lie  in  every  day,  —  had  we 
the  sight,  as  happily  we  have  not,  to  decipher 
it :  for  is  not  every  meanest  day  the  conflux 
of  two  eternities  ?  ^ 

She  was  mistaken  in  saying  bad  authors 
may  amuse  our  idleness.  Leontion  knows  not, 
then,  how  sweet  and  sacred  idleness  is."" 

Remember, 

It  is  no  more  possible  for  an  idle  man  to 
keep  together  a  certain  stock  of  knowledge, 
than  it  is  possible  to  keep  together  a  stock  of 
ice  exposed  to  the  meridian  sun.  Every  day 
destroys  a  fact,  a  relation,  or  an  influence ; 
and  the  only  method  of  preserving  the  bulk 
and  value  of  the  pile  is  by  constantly  adding 
to  it. 

Ydelnes,  that  is  the  gate  of  all  harmes. 
An  ydil  man  is  like  an  hous  that  hath 

Noone  walls  ; 
The  develes  may  enter  on  every  side.** 


ANGEL    VOICES.  59 

Weep  with  them  that  weep. 

_ 

Indolence  is^  methinks,  says  Steele,  an  inter- 
mediate state  between  pleasure  and  pain,  and 
very  much  unbecoming  any  part  of  our  life 
after  we  are  out  of  the  nurse's  arms. 

Remember. 

After  his  blood,  that  which  a  man  can  next 
give  out  of  himself  is  a  tear."^ 

Rehembek, 

The  mercy  of  God  hath  singled  out  but  few 
to  be  the  signals  of  his  justice,  leaving  the 
generality  of  mankind  to  the  pedagogy  of 
example.** 

Do  not  trials  and  sorrows  (also,  it  is  true, 
deep  joys)  shared  between  two  friends,  part- 
ings, dangers,  above  all,  the  having  stood  to- 
gether in  the  presence  of  death,  deepen  the 
channel  of  our  affection  in  deepening  that  of 
our  existence  ?  Are  not  such  moments  as 
it  were  sacramental,  bringing  us  nearer  each 
other  in  bringing  us  nearer  God,  from  whom 
the  poor  unrealities  of  time,  tmworthy  of  us  as 
they  are  of  Him,  too  much  divide  us  ?  When 
the  veil  of  the  temple,  even  this  poor  worn 
garment  of  our  humanity,  is  rent  from  the 
top  to  the  bottom,  we  catch  glimpses  of  the 
inner  glory.  "  They  who  love,"  as  says  St. 
Chrysostom,    "if  it  be  but   man,    not    God," 


6o  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Passing  the  time  of  thy  sojourning  in  holy  fear. 

will  know  what  I  mean,  when  I  speak  of  joys 
springing  out  of  the  very  heart  of  anguish,  and 
holding  to  it  by  a  common  and  inseparable 
life ;  will  understand  how  it  comes  that  the 
pale  flowers  which  thrust  themselves  out  of  the 
ruins  of  hope,  of  endeavor,  of  affection,  yes, 
even  out  of  the  mournful  wreck  of  intellect 
itself,  should  breathe  out  a  deep  and  intimate 
fragrance,  such  as  the  broad  wealth  of  air  and 
sunshine  never  yet  gave."^ 


Constantly  endeavor  to  do  the  will  of  an- 
other rather  than  thine  own  : 

Constantly  choose  rather  to  want  less,  than 
to  have  more : 

Constantly  choose  the  lowest  place,  and  to 
be  humble  to  all : 

Constantly  desire  and  pray  that  the  will  of 
God  may  be  perfectly  accomplished  in  thee, 
and  concerning  thee. 

Verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  he  that  doeth  this 
enters  into  the  region  of  rest  and  peace.^ 

Remember. 

That  though  there  is  something  painful,  yea, 
terrific,  in  feeling  one's  self  involved  in  the 
great  wheel  of  society,  which  goes  whirling  on, 
crushing  thousands  at  every  turn,  yet  though 


ANGEL    VOICES.  6 1 


I  will  purely  purge  away  thy  dross. 


this  relation  of  the  individual  to  the  mass  is 
the  sternest  and  most  frightful  of  all  conflicts 
between  necessity  and  free  will,  here  too  con- 
flict should  be  harmony,  and  will  be  so.  Put, 
then,  far  away  from  thy  soul  all  desire  of  re- 
taliation, all  angry  thoughts,  all  disposition  to 
overcome  or  humiliate  an  adversary,  and  be 
assured  thou  hast  done  much  to  abolish  gal- 
lows, chains,  and  prisons,  though  thou  hast 
never  written  or  spoken  a  word  on  the  crimi- 
nal code. 

'T  is  Nature's  law, 
That  none,  the  meanest  of  created  things, 
Of  forms  created  the  most  vile  and  brate, 
The  dullest  or  most  noxious,  should  exist 
Divorced  from  good,  — a  spirit  and  pulse  of  good, 
A  life  and  soul,  to  every  mode  of  being 
Inseparably  linked.     Then  be  assured 
That  least  of  all  can  aught  —  that  ever  o\vned 
The  heaven-regarding  eye  and  front  sublime, 
Which  man  is  born  to  —  sink,  howe'er  depressed, 
So  low  as  to  be  scorned  without  a  sin, 
Without  offence  to  God,  cast  out  of  view.*^ 

Remember. 

The  web  of  our  life  is  of  a  mingled  yarn, 
good  and  ill  together ;  our  virtues  would  be 
proud,  if  our  faults  whipped  them  not ;  and 
our  crimes  would  despair,  if  they  were  not 
cherished  by  our  virtues.^ 


64  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Be  content  with  such  things  as  ye  have. 

Remember, 

Every  moment  instructs,  and  every  object ; 
for  wisdom  is  infused  into  every  form.  It  has 
been  poured  into  us  as  blood ;  it  convulsed  us 
as  pain ;  it  slid  into  us  as  pleasure ;  it  en- 
veloped us  in  dull,  melancholy  days,  or  in 
days  of  cheerful  labor :  we  did  not  guess  its 
essence  until  after  long  time.*' 

Remember. 

And  repine  not  over  your  daily  lot ;  but 
regard  all  your  labor  solely  as  a  symbol ;  at 
bottom,  it  does  not  signify  whether  we  make 
pots  or  dishes.* 

"  The  reward  of  work  well  done,  is  the  hav- 
ing done  it." 

Teach  us  for  all  joys  to  crave 

Benediction,  pure  and  high, 

Own  them  given,  endure  them  gone, 

Shrink  from  their  hardening  touch,  yet  prize  them  won  ; 

Prize  them  as  rich  odors,  meet 

For  Love  to  lavish  on  His  sacred  feet ; 

Prize  them  as  sparkles  bright 

Of  heavenly  dew,  from  yon  o'erflowing  well  of  light  ^ 

Remember, 

Happy  the  man  who  can  embark  his  small 
adventure  of  deeds  and  thoughts  upon  the 
shallow  waters  round  his  own  home,  or  send 


ANGEL    VOICES.  65 

The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you. 

them  afloat  on  the  wide  sea  of  humanity,  with 
no  great  anxiety  in  either  case  as  to  what  re- 
ception they  may  meet  with.^ 

All  the  glory  and  beauty  of  Christ  are 
manifested  within,  and  there  he  delights  to 
dwell ;  his  visits  there  are  frequent,  his  conde- 
scension amazing,  his  conversation  sweet,  his 
comforts  refreshing ;  and  the  peace  that  he 
brings  passeth  all  understanding." 

Yet  much  remains 
To  conquer  still ;  peace  hath  her  victories 
No  less  renowned  than  war.^' 

Remembkk. 

And  make  search  for  that  "  inmost  centre 
in  us  all,  where  truth  abides  in  fulness  "  ;  and 
there  learn  that  to  kiioio 

Rather  consists  in  opening  out  a  way 
Whence  the  imprisoned  splendor  may  dart  forth, 
Than  in  effecting  entry  for  a  light 
Supposed  to  be  without.^* 

Remembek, 

The  first  creature  of  God  in  the  works  of  the 
days  was  the  light  of  the  sense ;  the  last  was 
the  light  of  reason  ;  and  his  Sabbath  work 
ever  since  is  the  illumination  of  his  Spirit.'*' 

Yet  forget  not  that  "  the  whole  world  is  a 
phylactery,  and  everything  we  see  an  item  of 
the  wisdom,  power,  or  goodness  of  God."'^ 
s 


64  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Be  content  with  such  things  as  ye  have. 

Remember. 

Every  moment  instructs,  and  every  object ; 
for  wisdom  is  infused  into  every  form.  It  has 
been  poured  into  us  as  blood  ;  it  convulsed  us 
as  pain  ;  it  slid  into  us  as  pleasure ;  it  en- 
veloped us  in  dull,  melancholy  days,  or  in 
days  of  cheerful  labor :  we  did  not  guess  its 
essence  until  after  long  time.** 

Remember. 

And  repine  not  over  your  daily  lot ;  but 
regard  all  your  labor  solely  as  a  symbol ;  at 
bottom,  it  does  not  signify  whether  we  make 
pots  or  dishes.* 

"  The  reward  of  work  well  done,  is  the  hav- 
ing done  it." 

Teach  us  for  all  joys  to  crave 

Benediction,  pure  and  high, 

OwTi  them  given,  endure  them  gone, 

Shrink  from  their  hardening  touch,  yet  prize  them  won  ; 

Prize  them  as  rich  odors,  meet 

For  Love  to  lavish  on  His  sacred  feet ; 

Prize  them  as  sparkles  bright 

Of  heavenly  dew,  from  yon  o'erflowing  well  of  light.  ^ 

Remember, 

Happy  the  man  who  can  embark  his  small 
adventure  of  deeds  and  thoughts  upon  the 
shallow  waters  round  his  own  home,  or  send 


ANGEL    VOICES.  65 

The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you. 

them  afloat  on  the  wide  sea  of  humanity,  with 
no  great  anxiety  in  either  case  as  to  what  re- 
ception they  may  meet  with.°* 

All  the  glory  and  beauty  of  Christ  are 
manifested  within,  and  there  he  delights  to 
dwell ;  his  visits  there  are  frequent,  his  conde- 
scension amazing,  his  conversation  sweet,  his 
comforts  refreshing ;  and  the  peace  that  he 
brings  passeth  all  understanding." 

Yet  much  remains 
To  conquer  still ;  peace  hath  her  victories 
No  less  renowned  than  war.^'^ 

Remembkk. 

And  make  search  for  that  "  inmost  centre 
in  us  all,  where  truth  abides  in  fulness  "  ;  and 
there  learn  that  to  know 

Rather  consists  in  opening  out  a  way 
Whence  the  imprisoned  splendor  may  dart  forth, 
Than  in  effecting  entry  for  a  light 
Supposed  to  be  without." 

Remember. 

The  first  creature  of  God  in  the  works  of  the 
days  was  the  light  of  the  sense ;  the  last  was 
the  light  of  reason  ;  and  his  Sabbath  work 
ever  since  is  the  illumination  of  his  Spirit. ^^ 

Yet  forget  not  that  "  the  whole  world  is  a 
phylactery,  and  everything  we  see  an  item  of 
the  wisdom,  power,  or  goodness  of  God.'"* 

5 


66  ANGEL    VOICES. 

If  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  him, 

Remember, 

Man  is  buried  in  consecrated  earth  ;  —  even 
thus  should  we  bury  great  and  rare  occurrences 
in  a  beautiful  tomb  of  remembrance,  to  which 
each  one  may  approach  and  celebrate  the 
memory  thereof* 

Said  Margaret  Fuller :  "  All  the  good  I 
have  ever  done  has  been  by  calling  on  every 
nature  for  its  highest.  I  will  admit  that  some- 
times I  have  been  wanting  in  gentleness,  but 
never  in  tenderness  or  in  noble  faith." 

Remember, 

To  run  not  too  hotly  in  the  pursuit  of 
earthly  knowledge,  which  is,  after  all,  but 
"broken  wonder." 

Remember, 

Nature,  indeed,  draws  tears  out  of  the  eyes, 
and  sighs  out  of  the  breast,  so  quickly,  that 
the  wise  man  can  never  wholly  lay  aside  the 
garb  of  mourning  from  his  body ;  but  let  his 
soul  wear  none.  Though  philosophy  may  not, 
like  a  stroke  of  the  brush  of  Rubens,  trans- 
form a  laughing  child  into  a  weeping  one,  it  is 
well  if  it  change  the  full  mourning  of  the  soul 
into  half-mourning,  by  teaching  us  how  to 
bear  present  transient  ills. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  Gj 


We  may  be  also  glorified  together. 


Even  physical  pain  shoots  its  sparks  upon 
us  out  of  the  electrical  condenser  of  the  im- 
agination. The  most  acute  pangs  could  be 
endured  calmly,  if  they  lasted  only  the  sixtieth 
part  of  a  second  ;  but,  in  fact,  we  never  have 
to  endure  an  hour  of  pain,  but  only  a  succes- 
sion of  the  sixtieth  parts  of  a  second,  the  sixty 
beams  of  which  are  collected  into  the  burn- 
ing focus  of  a  second,  and  directed  upon  our 
nerves  by  the  imagination  alone.  The  most 
painful  part  of  our  bodily  pain  is  that  which  is 
bodiless,  or  immaterial,  namely,  our  impa- 
tience, and  the  delusion  that  it  will  last  for- 
ever.** 

Remkmhek, 

Firmian  did  well  in  that  he  touched  lightly 
and  passed  hastily  in  narration  over  the  bad 
year  of  his  stomach,  over  his  hard  times,  over 
the  figurative  winter  of  his  life,  though,  in  the 
eyes  of  his  intimate  friend,  his  pallid,  withered 
face,  and  his  sunken  eye,  formed  the  frontis- 
piece of  his  months  of  ice,  and  was  a  winter 
landscape  of  this  snow-covered  portion  of  his 
path  of  life ;  because  no  one  deserv^es  the 
name  of  man  who  makes  a  greater  fuss  about 
the  wounds  of  poverty  than  a  girl  makes  about 
those  of  her  ears,  since,  equally  in  both  cases, 


68  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Then  shall  we  know. 

hooks,  whereby  to  suspend  jewels,  are  inserted 
into  the  wounds."* 

Light  came  from  darkness,  gladness  from  despair, 

As,  when  the  sunlight  fadeth  from  the  earth, 

Star  after  star  comes  out  upon  the  sky, 

And  shining  worlds,  that  had  not  been  revealed 

In  day's  full  light,  are  then  made  manifest. 

Thus  it  is  when,  light  of  earth  shut  out. 

Our  thoughts  turned  inward,  we  discover  there 

Things  of  immortal  wonder,  living  springs 

Of  an  unfailing  comfort ;  hidden  things 

Brighter  than  earth's  allurements.      We  can  trace 

The  operations  of  the  immortal  mind, 

On  its  high  path  to  excellence  and  joy, 

And  see  the  prize  of  its  high  calling  there." 

Goethe  says  :  "  Perhaps  we  shall  be  blessed 
(hereafter)  with  what  here  on  earth  has  been 
denied  us,  to  know  one  another  merely  by  see- 
ing one  another,  and  thence  more  thoroughly 
to  love  one  another." 

Remembek, 

And  judge  not  man  by  his  outward  mani- 
festation of  faith ;  for  some  there  are,  who 
tremblingly  reach  out  shaking  hands  to  the 
guidance  of  Faith ;  others,  who  stoutly  ven- 
ture in  the  dark  their  human  confidence,  their 
leader,  which  they  mistake  for  Faith  ;  some, 
whose  Hope   totters    upon   crutches  ;    others, 


ANGEL    VOICES.  69 

When  I  am  weak,   then  am  I  strong. 

who  stalk  into  futurity  upon  stilts.     The  dif- 
ference is  chiefly  constitutional  with  them.'* 

Each  is  but 
An  infant  crying  in  the  night, 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry.* 

Remember, 

The  more  consciousness  in  our  thoughts  and 
words,  and  the  less  in  our  impulses  and  gen- 
eral actions,  the  better  and  more  healthful  the 
state  both  of  head  and  heart.  As  the  flowers 
from  an  orange-tree  in  its  time  of  blossoming, 
that  bourgeon  forth,  expand,  fall,  and  are  mo- 
mently replaced,  such  is  the  sequence  of  hourly 
and  momently  charities  in  a*pure  and  gracious 
soul.  The  modern  fiction  which  depictures 
the  son  of  Cytherea  with  a  bandage  round  his 
eyes,  is  not  without  a  spiritual  meaning.  There 
is  a  sweet  and  holy  blindness  in  Christian  love, 
even  as  there  is  a  blindness  of  life,  yea,  and  of 
genius  too,  in  the  moment  of  productive  en- 
ergy.'" 

Remember, 

In  thy  silent  wishing,  thy  voiceless,  uttered 
prayer,  let  the  desire  be  not  cherished  that 
afflictions  may  not  visit  thee  ;  for  well  has  it 
been  said, — 


•J-:i  ANGEL    VOICES. 


Glory  in  tribulation. 


Such  prayers  never  seem  to  have  wings." 

Extremity  is  the  trier  of  spirits  ; 

Common  chances  common  men  could  bear  :  — 

When  the  sea  is  calm,  all  boats  alike 

Show  mastership  in  floating.** 

*'  If  my  bark  sink,  'tis  to  another  sea." 

Remember. 

Pain  is  the  deepest  thing  we  have  in  our 
nature,  and  union  through  pain  has  always 
seemed  more  real  and  holy  than  any  other.'" 

Remember. 

Rabia,  a  devout  Arabian  woman,  who  being 
asked  in  her  last  illness  how  she  endured 
the  extremity  of  her  sufiferings,  made  answer, 
"  They  who  look  upon  God's  face  do  not  feel 
his  hand."  " 

Remember. 

In  no  life  does  the  secret  of  all  tragedy,  the 
conflict  between  the  will  and  circumstance, 
so  unfold  itself  as  in  that  of  the  Christian ;  he, 
of  all  men,  feels  and  mourns  over  that  sharp, 
ever-recurring  contrast  of  our  existence,  —  the 
glorious  capabilities,  the  limited   attainments 

of  man's   nature  and  destiny  below If 

he  would  stretch  forth  his  hand  and  live  by 
what  he  can  reach  of  absolute  truth,  he  will 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


Put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God. 


quickly  come  across  the  flaming  sword  turn- 
ing every  way  to  keep  the  way  of  the  Tree  of 
Life.^ 

Remember, 

Interior  freedom  and  exterior  necessity, 
these  are  the  two  poles  of  the  Tragic  World.'^ 

Remember. 

A  straight  line  is  the  shortest  in  morals  as 
well  as  in  geometry. ' 

Be  thou  not 

a  rogue  in  grain, 
Veneered  with  sanctimonious  theory.* 

Remember, 

If  men  lived  like  men  indeed,  their  houses 
would  be  temples.** 

Remember, 

The  great  secret  both  of  health  and  success- 
ful industry  is  the  absolute  yielding  up  of 
one's  consciousness  to  the  business  and  diver- 
sion of  the  hour,  —  never  permitting  the  one 
to  infringe  in  the  least  degree  upon  the  other.*" 

Remember, 

What  is  human  life,  if  not  a  vast  desire  and 
a  great  attempt  ? 


72  ANGEL    VOICES. 

What  profiteth  it  a  man  if  he  gain 

Re.membef:, 

To  rest  not  in  an  ovation,  but  a  triumph 
over  thy  passions.  Let  anger  walk  hanging 
down  the  head  ;  let  malice  go  manacled,  and 
envy  fettered,  after  thee.  Behold  within  thee 
the  long  train  of  thy  trophies,  not  without 
thee.  Make  the  quarrelling  Lapithyles  sleep, 
and  Centaurs  within  lie  quiet.  Chain  up  the 
unruly  legion  of  thy  breast.  Lead  thine  own 
captivity  captive,  and  be  Caesar  within  thy- 
self." 

Remembeft, 
'Tis 

the  hypocrites  that  ope  Heaven's  door 
Obsequious  to  the  sinful  man  of  riches, : — 
But  put  the  wicked,  naked,  barelegged  poor 
In  parish  stocks  instead  of  breeches.  ** 

Remember. 

The  capital  art  of  life  is  to  renew  and  aug- 
ment your  power  by  its  expenditure.  It  was 
inti4Tiated  some  eighteen  centuries  since,  that 
the  highest  are  obtained  only  by  loss  of  the 
same ;  and  the  transmutation  of  loss  into 
gain  is  the  essence  and  perfection  of  all  spirit- 
ual economics.  Now  of  this  art  of  arts  he  is 
already  master  who  steadily  draws  upon  his 
own  spiritual  resources.     The  soul  is  an  ex- 


ANGEL    VOICES.  73 


the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul? 


traordinary  well ;  the  way  to  replenish  is  to 
draw  from  it/^ 

Remember, 

It  is  a  poor  centre  of  a  man's  actions,  him- 
self It  is  right  earth.  For  that  only  stands 
fast  upon  her  own  centre,  whereas  all  things 
that  have  affinity  with  the  heavens  move 
upon  the  centre  of  another,  which  they  benefit. 

Wisdom  for  a  man's  self  is,  in  many  branches 
thereof,  a  depraved  thing.  It  is  the  wisdom 
of  rats,  that  will  be  sure  to  leave  a  house 
somewhat  before  it  fall.  It  is  the  wisdom 
of  the  fox,  that  thrusts  out  the  badger  who 
digged  and  made  room  for  him.  It  is  the 
wisdom  of  crocodiles,  that   shed    tears    when 

they  would  devour And  when  they  have 

all  their  time  sacrificed  to  themselves,  they 
become  in  the  end  themselves  sacrifices  to 
the  inconstancy  of  fortune,  whose  wings  they 
thought  by  their  self-wisdom  to  have  pin- 
ioned.'* 

Remember, 

Man  is  greater  than  a  world,  —  than  systems 
of  worlds  ;  there  is  more  mystery  in  the  union 
of  soul  with  the  physical,  than  in  the  creation 
of  a  universe.^* 


74  ANGEL    VOICES. 


What  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ? 

I  never  could  feel  any  force  in  the  argu- 
ments for  a  plurality  of  worlds,  in  the  common 
acceptation  of  that  term.  The  vulgar  infer- 
ence is  in  alio  gcnere  {for  other  beings).  What 
in  the  eye  of  an  intellectual  and  omnipotent 
Being  is  the  whole  sidereal  system  to  the  soul 
of  one  man  for  whom  Christ  died  .'' " 

I  will  make  a  man  more  precious  than  fine  gold  ;  even  a  man 
than  the  golden  wedge  of  Ophir.  — Isa.xiii.  12. 

Coleridge  adds  :  "  A  lady  once  asked  me, 
'  What  then  could  be  the  intention  in  creating 
so  many  great  bodies,  so  apparently  useless  to 
us  ? '  I  said,  I  did  not  know,  except,  perhaps, 
to  make  dirt  cheap  ! " 

Remember, 

Things  are  of  the  snake.^" 

To  commiserate  is  sometimes  more  than  to 
give ;  for  money  is  external  to  a  man's  self, 
but  he  who  bestows  compassion  communicates 
his  own  soul.** 

"There's  naught  so  fathomless  as  woe  unshared." 

We  have  our  younger  brothers,  too, 
The  poor,  the  outcast,  and  the  trodden  down. 
Left  fatherless  on  earth  to  pine  for  bread  ; 
They  are  a-hungered  for  our  love  and  care. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  75 

He  who  giveth  to  the  poor,   lendeth  to  the  Lord. 

It  is  their  spirits  that  are  famishing, 

And  our  dear  Father,  in  his  Testament, 

Bequeathed  them  to  us  as  our  dearest  trust. 

Wherefore  we  shall  give  a  straight  account. 

Woe,  if  we  have  forgotten  them,  and  left 

Those  souls  that  might  have  grown  so  fair  and  glad, 

That  only  wanted  a  kind  word  from  us, 

To  be  so  free  and  gently  beautiful,  — 

Left  them  to  feel  their  birthright  a  curse, 

To  grow  all  lean,  and  cramped,  and  full  of  sores. 

And  —  last,  sad  change,  that  surely  comes  to  ail 

Shut  out  from  manhood  by  their  brother  man  — 

To  turn  mere  wolves  for  lack  of  aught  to  love.^^ 

Shall  we  speak  of  the  inspiration  of  a  poet 
or  a  priest,  and  not  of  the  heart  impelled  by 
love  and  self-devotion  to  the  lowliest  work  in 
the  lowliest  way  of  life  ?  *' 

Remember, 

Among  those  whom  the  world  calls  poor, 
there  is  less  vital  force,  a  lower  tone  of  life, 
more  ill-health,  more  weakness,  more  early 
death.  There  are  also  less  self-respect,  ambi- 
tion, and  hope,  than  among  the  independent.^^ 

Remember, 

He  who  knows,  like  St.  Paul,  both  how  to 
spare  and  how  to  abound,  has  great  knowl- 
edge ;  for  if  we  take  account  of  all  the  vir- 
tues with  which   money  is  mixed  up,  —  hon- 


^6  ANGEL    VOICES. 

If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them. 

esty,  justice,  generosity,  charity,  frugality,  fore- 
thought, self-sacrifice,  —  and  of  their  correla- 
tive vices,  it  is  a  knowledge  which  goes  near 
to  cover  the  length  and  breadth  of  humanity  ; 
and  a  right  measure  and  manner  in  getting, 
saving,  spending,  giving,  taking,  lending,  bor- 
rowing, and  bequeathing  would  almost  argue 
a  perfect  man.*° 

Felicity  is  nothing  else  than  the  use  of  vir- 
tue in  prosperity.*' 

Remembiik, 

He  that  believes  only  what  he  understands, 
has  the  shortest  known  creed.** 

God  judgeth  us  by  what  we  know  of  right, 
Rather  than  what  we  practise  that  is  wrong 
Unknowingly." 


Remember, 

In  your  intercourse  with  sects, — The  sub- 
lime and  abstruse  doctrines  of  Christian  belief 
belong  to  the  Church ;  but  the  faith  of  the 
individual,  centred  in  his  heart,  is,  or  may  be, 
collateral  to  them.     Faith  is  subjectiv^e.'' 

Whom  the  heart  of  man  shuts  out, 
Straightway  the  heart  of  God  takes  in." 


ANGEL    VOICES.  yj 


Thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell. 


Rememkf.r, 

The  necessary  mansions  of  our  restored 
selves  are  those  two  contrary  and  incompatible 
places  we  call  Heaven  and  Hell ;  to  define 
them,  or  strictly  to  determine  what  and  where 
these  are,  surpasseth  my  divinity.  That  ele- 
gant Apostle,  which  seemed  to  have  a  glimpse 
of  heaven,  hath  left  but  a  negative  description 
thereof** 

I  have  so  fixed  my  contemplations  on 
heaven,  that  I  have  almost  forgot  the  idea  of 
hell,  and  am  afraid  rather  to  lose  the  joys  of 
the  one  than  endure  the  misery  of  the  other  ; 
to  be  deprived  of  them  is  a  perfect  hell,  and 
needs,  methinks,  no  addition  to  complete  our 
afflictions." 

Know  ye,  there  are  two  worlds  of  life  and  death  ; 
One,  that  which  thou  beholdest ;  but  the  other 
Is  underneath  the  grave,  where  do  inhabit 
The  shadows  of  all  forms  that  think  and  live, 
Till  death  unite  them,  and  they  part  no  more."^ 

Remembkk, 

They  who  are  incapable  of  self-devouring 
emotion  and  brooding  melancholy  may  easily 
find  in  rules  of  duty  a  safeguard  against  any 
such  wrong-doing  as  would  produce  conse- 
quences very  painful  to  them ;  but  a  fervid 
and  meditative  spirit  carries  conscience  with 


78  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon. 

it  as  a  divine  curse,  if  this  be  not  transfigured 
and  glorified  into  the  revelation  of  a  good 
higher   than   all   laws    of  duty.** 

O  tell  her,  brief  is  life,  but  love  is  long, 
And  brief  the  sun  of  summer  in  the  North, 
And  brief  the  moon  of  beauty  in  the  South.* 

Remember. 

A  weak  mind  sinks  under  prosperity,  as 
well  as  under  adversity.  A  strong  and  deep 
one  has  two  highest  tides,  —  when  the  moon 
is  at  the  full,  and  when  there  is  no  moon.*^ 

Remember, 

And  lay  on  thy  heart  the  deep  meaning  of 
these  words :  — 

"  Exceeding  fair  she  was  not,  and  yet  fair 
In  that  she  never  studied  to  be  fairer 
Than  Nature  meant  her ;  beauty  cost  her  nothing."^''*' 

Remember, 

The  conflict  ^of  Christianity  is  the  harder 
because  it  is  civil ;  it  has  allied  itself  with  that 
against  which  it  must  contend  to  the  death,  or 
be  itself  overcome  of  it.  Hence  its  fierce  col- 
lisions, its  sorrowful  victories  ;  hence  too  its 
still  more  sad,  more  fatal  compromises,  its  un- 
holy, unhallowing  alliances,  "  the  Woman  sit- 
ting upon  the  Beast,"  —  the  compact  between 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


79 


Give  to  him  that  asketh. 


the  Church  and  the  World,  at  the  sight  of 
which  he  who  had  learned  so  many  secrets 
from  his  beloved  Master  yet  "  wondered  with 
great  admiration."  °* 

Remember, 

To  be  charitable  before  wealth  make  thee 
covetous,  and  lose  not  the  glory  of  the  mite. 
If  riches  increase,  let  thy  mind  hold  pace  with 
them  ;  and  think  it  not  enough  to  be  liberal, 
but  munificent.  Though  a  cup  of  cold  water 
from  some  hand  may  not  be  without  its  re- 
ward, yet  stick  not  thou  for  wine  and  oil  for 
the  wounds  of  the  distressed  ;  and  treat  the 
poor,  as  our  Saviour  did  the  multitude,  to  the 
relics  of  some  baskets.  Diffuse  thy  benefi- 
cence early,  and  while  thy  treasures  call  thee 
master  ;  there  may  be  an  Atropos  of  thy  for- 
tunes before  that  of  thy  life,  and  thy  wealth 
cut  off  before  that  hour  when  all  men  shall  be 
poor ;  for  the  justice  of  death  looks  equally 
upon  the  dead,  and  Charon  expects  no  more 
from  Alexander  than  from   Irus.*'' 

Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do,  — 
Not  hght  them  for  themselves  ;  for  if  our  virtues 
Did  not  go  forth  of  us,  't  were  all  alike 
As  if  we  had  them  not."* 


8o  ANGEL    VOICES. 


The  world  hateth  you. 


Remember  the  words  of  Archdeacon  Hare : 
There  are  persons  who,  by  a  certain  fehcity 
of  nature,  through  a  pecuHar  combination  of 
magnanimity  and  generosity  with  gentleness 
and  open-hearted  frankness,  loving  to  give  the 
very  best  of  what  they  have,  are  gifted  with  a 
sort  of  divining-rod  for  drawing  out  what  is 
hidden  in  the  hearts  of  their  brethren  ;  and  of 
such  persons  I  have  known  no  finer  example 
than  Sterling.  For  in  him,  as  in  such  persons 
it  must  ever  be,  the  nobleness  of  his  outward 
look  and  gesture  and  manner  betokened  that 
of  his  spirit,  and  showed  that  the  whole  man, 
heart  and  soul  and  mind,  was  uttering  himself 
in  his  eloquent  speech. 

O,  if  there  is  one  law  above  the  rest 

Written  in  wisdom,  —  if  there  is  a  word 

That  I  would  trace  as  with  a  pen  of  fire 

Upon  the  unsunned  temper  of  a  child,  — 

If  there  is  anything  that  keeps  the  mind 

Open  to  angel  visits,  and  repels 

The  ministry  of  ill,  —  't  is  human  love  ! 

God  has  made  nothing  worthy  of  contempt. 

The  smallest  pebble  in  the  well  of  truth 

Has  its  peculiar  meaning,  and  will  stand 

When  man's  best  monuments  have  passed  away. 

The  law  of  Heaven  is  love,  and  though  its  name 

Has  been  usurped  by  passion,  and  profaned 

To  its  unholy  uses  through  all  time. 

Still  the  eternal  <principle  is  pure  ; 


ANGEL    VOICES.  8 1 


Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers. 


And  in  these  deep  affections  that  we  feel 
Omnipotent  within  us,  we  but  see 
The  lavish  measure  in  which  love  is  given, 
And  in  the  yearning  tenderness  of  a  child 
For  every  bird  that  sings  above  his  head, 
And  every  creature  feeding  on  the  hills, 
And  every  tree  and  flower  and  running  brook. 
We  see  how  everything  was  made  to  love. 
And  how  they  err  who,  in  a  world  like  this. 
Find  anything  to  hate  but  human  pride  !  ^ 

Remember, 

Hospitality  is  threefold  :  for  one's  family, 
this  is  of  necessity  ;  for  strangers,  this  is  cour- 
tesy ;  for  the  poor,  this  is  charity. 

Measure  not  thy  entertainment  of  a  guest 
by  his  estate,  but  thine  own.  Because  he  is  a 
lord,  forget  not  thou  art  but  a  gentleman  ; 
otherwise,  if  with  feasting  him  thou  breakest 
thyself,  he  will  not  cure  thy  rupture,  and  per- 
chance rather  deride  than  pity  thee. 

Company  is  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of 
the  nature  of  man.  For  the  beams  of  joy  are 
made  hotter  by  reflection,  when  related  to 
another ;  and  otherwise  gladness  itself  must 
grieve  for  want  of  one  to  express  itself  to.*' 

Be  merry,  man,  and  take  not  sair  to  mind 
The  wavering  of  this  wretched  world  of  sorrow  ; 
To  God  be  humble,  to  thy  friend  be  kind, 
6 


82  ANGEL    VOICES. 


Thereby  some  have  entertained  angels  unawares. 

And  with  thy  neighbors  gladly  lend  and  borrow ; 
His  chance  to-night,  it  may  be  thine  to-morrow. 

Be  charitable  and  humble  in  thine  estate, 

For  warldly  honor  lastes  but  a  day. 

For  trouble  in  earth  take  no  melancholy  ; 
Be  rich  in  patience,  if  thou  in  gudes  be  poor  ; 

Who  lives  merrily,  he  lives  mightely  : 
Without  sadness  avails  no  treasure.  "^'^ 

Remember, 

In  how  many  instances  servants,  living  un- 
der the  same  roof  with  us,  share  none  of  our 
feehngs  nor  we  of  theirs  ;  their  presence  is  felt 
as  a  restraint ;  we  know  nothing  about  them 
but  that  they  perform  certain  set  duties  ;  and, 
in  short,  they  may  be  said  to  be  a  kind  of  live 
furniture.  There  is  something  very  repug- 
nant to  Christianity  in  all  this.  Surely  there 
might  be  much  more  sympathy  between  mas- 
ters and  servants  without  endangering  the 
good  part  of  our  social  system.  At  any  rate, 
we  may  be  certain  that  a  fastidious  reserve 
towards  our  fellow-creatures  is  not  the  way  in 
which  true  dignity  or  strength  of  mind  will 
ever  manifest  themselves  in   us.^" 

For  each  enclosed  spirit  is  a  star 

Enlightening  his  own  little  sphere. 
Whose  light,  though  fetcht  and  borrowed  from  far, 

Both  mornings  makes  and  evenings  there." 


ANGEL    VOICES.  83 


The  trying  of  your  faith  worketh  patience. 


Remember, 

Faith  provides  for  every  affection,  every 
want  and  aspiration.  It  stretches  itself  over 
humanity  as  the  prophet  stretched  himself 
above  the  child,  —  eye  to  eye,  mouth  to  mouth, 
heart  to  heart ;  and  to  work  a  kindred  miracle, 
to  bring  back  life  to  the  dead,  by  restoring  the 
One  to  the  One,  —  the  tvJiole  nature  of  Man  to 
the  whole  nature  of  God.^ 

Remember, 

The  fluctuations  to  which  spiritual  life  is 
subject  show  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of 
God  in  making  so  much  of  it  to  reside  in  duty, 
a  principle  independent  of  the  variations  of  feel- 
ing. There  are  long  seasons  of  banishment 
from  God's  presence,  unconnected,  perhaps, 
with  any  sense  of  his  displeasure,  in  which 
the  soul  must  say,  "  Make  me  as  one  of  thy 
hired  servants."^ 

Sense  of  pleasure 
We  may  well  spare  out  of  life,  and  live  content ; 
Which  is  the  happiest  life.^' 

Remembei:. 

There  is  no  real  elevation  of  mind  in  con- 
tempt of  little  things  ;  it  is,  on  the  contrary, 
from  too  narrow  views  that  we  consider  those 
things  of  little  importance  which  have  in  fact 


84  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Be  ye  angry  and  sin  not. 

such  extensive  consequences.  The  more  apt 
we  are  to  neglect  small  things,  the  more  we 
ought  to  fear  the  effects  of  this  negligence,  be 
watchful  over  ourselves,  and  place  around  us, 
if  possible,  some  insurmountable  barrier  to  this 
remissness/* 

Patience  !     Why,  't  is  the  soul  of  peace  : 
Of  all  the  virtues,  't  is  nearest  kin  to  heaven. 
It  makes  men  look  like  gods.     The  best  of  men 
That  e'er  wore  earth  about  him  was  a  sufferer,  — 
A  soft,  meek,  patient,  humble,  tranquil  spirit ; 
The  first  true  gentleman  that  ever  breathed.  ^"^ 

Remember, 

Anger  is  one  of  the  sinews  of  the  soul ;  he 
that  wants  it  hath  a  maimed  mind,  and  with 
Jacob,  sinew-shrunk  in  the  hollow  of  his  thigh, 
must  needs  halt.  Nor  is  it  good  to  converse 
with  such  as  cannot  be  angry,  and  with  the 
Caspian  Sea  never  ebb  nor  flow.** 

To  climb  steep  hills 
Requires  slow  pace  at  first :  anger  is  like 
A  full  hot  horse,  who,  being  allowed  his  way, 
Self-mettle  tires  him.** 

Remember. 

If  it  be  pain  to  us  to  love,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  contradict,  to  refuse  with  the  head 
what  the  heart  grants,  it  is  all  the  sweeter  to 
us  to  find  ourselves  and  our  faith  transplanted 


ANGEL    VOICES.  85 

Let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your  wrath. 

forwards  in  a  younger  being.  Life  is  then  a 
beautiful  night,  in  which  not  one  star  goes 
down  but  another  rises  in  its  place.^* 

"And  he  answered  them  nothing." 

O  mighty  Nothing  !  mito  thee, 
Nothing,  we  owe  all  things  that  be. 
God  spake  once,  when  he  all  things  made, 
He  saved  all,  when  he  Nothing  said.**^ 


Remember, 

That  such  an  anger  alone  is  criminal  which 
is  against  charity  to  myself  or  my  neighbor  ; 
but  anger  against  sin  is  a  holy  zeal,  and  an 
effect  of  love  to  God  and  my  brother,  for 
whose  interest  I  am  passionate,  like  a  con- 
cerned person.  And  if  I  take  care  that  my 
anger  makes  no  reflection  of  scorn  or  cruelty 
upon  the  offender,  or  of  pride  and  violence,  or 
transportation  to  myself,  anger  becomes  char- 
ity and  duty.  And  when  one  commended 
Charilaus,  the  king  of  Sparta,  for  a  gentle,  a 
good,  and  a  meek  prince,  his  colleague  said 
well,  "  How  can  he  be  good,  who  is  not  an 
enemy  even  to  vicious  persons  ?  "  ^ 

Remember, 

Quiet  gives  not  a  strength  to  human  kind, 
To  leave  all  suffering  powerless  at  its  feet. 


86  ANGEL    VOICES. 


My  peace  I  give  unto  you. 


But  keeps  within  the  temple  of  the  mind 
A  golden  altar,  and  a  mercy-seat : 
A  spiritual  ark, 

Bearing  the  peace  of  God 
Above  the  waters  dark. 
And  o'er  the  desert's  sod. 
How  beautiful  within  our  souls  to  keep 

This  treasure,  the  All-Merciful  hath  given  ; 
To  feel,  when  we  awake,  and  when  we  sleep. 
Its  incense  round  us,  like  a  breeze  from  heaven  ! 
Quiet  at  hearth  and  home, 

Where  the  heart's  joys  begin  ; 
Quiet  where'er  we  roam. 
Quiet  around,  within.  ^"^ 

Hooker's  anger  is  said  to  have  been  like  a 
vial  of  clear  water,  which,  when  shook,  beads 
at  the  top,  but  instantly  subsides,  without  any 
soil  or  sediment  of  uncharitableness. 

Rememrf.r, 

Recreation  is  a  second  creation,  when  busi- 
ness hath  almost  annihilated  one's  spirits.  It 
is  the  breathing  of  the  soul,  which  otherwise 
would  be  stifled  with  continual  business.** 

As  a  countenance  is  made  beautiful  by  the 
soul's  shining  through  it,  so  the  world  is  beau- 
tiful by  the  shining  through  it  of  a  God.^** 

Remember. 

The  only  way  for  a  rich  man  to  be  healthy 


ANGEL    VOICES.  8/ 

Your  body  is  the  temple. 

is,  by  exercise  and  abstinence,  to  live  so  as  if 
he  were  poor.^"* 

Remember, 

There  is  no  temperament  which  may  not  be 
formed  to  a  Christian  temper.*"' 

Every  man  is  the  builder  of  a  temple,  called 
his  body,  to  the  god  he  worships,  after  a  style 
purely  his  own  ;  nor  can  he  get  off  by  ham- 
mering marble  instead.  We  are  all  sculptors 
and  painters,  and  our  material  is  our  own  flesh 
and  blood  and  bones.  Any  nobleness  begins 
at  once  to  refine  a  man's  features,  any  mean- 
ness or  sensuality  to  imbrute  them."* 

Remember. 

Life  is  too  short  to  get  over  a  bad  manner  ; 
besides,  manners  are  the  shadows  of  virtue.*"" 

Remember, 

Spill  not  the  morning  (the  quintessence  of 
the  day)  in  recreations.  For  sleep  itself  is 
a  recreation ;  add  not,  therefore,  sauce  to 
sauce.** 

Remember, 

A  man's  own  observation,  what  he  finds 
good  of,  and  what  he  finds  hurt  of,  is  the  best 
physic  to  preserve  health To  be  free- 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


A  show  of  wisdom  in  neglecting  of  the  body. 

minded,  and  cheerfully  disposed,  at  hours  of 
meat,  and  of  sleep,  and  of  exercise,  is  one  of 

the  best  precepts  of  long  lasting 

Use  fasting  and  full  eating,  but  rather  full 
eating ;  watching  and  sleep,  but  rather  sleep ; 
sitting  and  exercise,  but  rather  exercise ;  and 
the  like.  So  shall  nature  be  cherished,  and 
yet  taught  masteries." 

Health  is  the  ground  which  great  persons 
cultivate,  whereby  they  exchange  the  light 
flying  hours  into  golden  usage.  To  them  it 
is  industry  represented  in  its  power ;  the  hu- 
man riches  of  time.  The  minute-glass  runs 
willingly  sand  of  centuries  when  great  ideas 
are  in  the  healthful  moments.™ 

Said  Milton :  "  My  morning  haunts  are, 
where  they  should  be,  at  home  ;  not  sleeping, 
nor  concocting  the  surfeits  of  an  irregular 
feast,  but  up  and  stirring  ;  in  winter,  often  ere 
the  sound  of  any  bell  awake  men  to  labor  or 
to  devotion  ;  in  summer,  as  oft  with  the  bird 
that  first  rises,  or  not  much  tardier,  to  read 
good  authors,  or  cause  them  to  be  read  till  the 
attention  be  weary,  or  memory  have  its  full 
freight." 


ANGEL    VOICES.  89 


He  giveth  his  beloved  sleep. 


Health  and  strength  are  the  virtue  of  the 
body."' 

Remember, 

We  term  sleep  a  death ;  and  yet  it  is  wak- 
ing that  kills  us,  and  destroys  those  spirits  that 
are  the  home  of  life.  'T  is  indeed  a  part  of 
life  that  best  expresseth  death  ;  for  every  man 
truly  lives,  so  long  as  he  acts  his  nature,  or 
some  way  makes  good  the  faculties  of  him- 
self Themistocles,  therefore,  that  slew  his 
soldier  in  his  sleep,  was  a  merciful  execu- 
tioner ;  't  is  a  kind  of  punishment  the  mild- 
ness of  no  laws  hath  invented.  I  wonder  the 
fancy  of  Lucan  and  Seneca  did  not  discover 
it.  It  is  that  death  by  which  we  may  be  liter- 
ally said  to  die  daily  ;  a  death  which  Adam 
died  before  his  mortality  ;  a  death  whereby 
we  live  a  middle  and  moderating  point  be- 
tween life  and  death  ;  in  fine,  so  like  death,  I 
dare  not  trust  it  without  my  prayers,  and  an 
half  adieu  unto  the  world,  and  take  my  fare- 
well in  a  colloquy  with  God. 

Virtuous  thoughts  of  the  day  lay  up  good 
treasures  for  the  night ;  whereby  the  impres- 
sions of  imaginary  forms  arise  into  softer 
similitudes,  acceptable  unto  our  slumbering 
selves,    and   preparatory   unto  divine  impres- 


90  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Work  while  it  is  day. 

sions.  Hereby  Solomon's  sleep  was  happy. 
Thus  prepared,  Jacob  might  well  dream  of 
angels,  on  a  pillow  of  stone.** 

Sadi  said,  "  God  gives  sleep  to  the  bad,  in 
order  that  the  good  may  be  undisturbed." 

O  magic  sleep  !     O  comfortable  bird, 
That  broodest  o'er  the  troubled  sea  of  the  mind, 
Till  it  is  hushed  and  smooth  !     O  unconfined 
Restraint !  imprisoned  liberty  !  great  key- 
To  golden  palaces,  strange  minstrelsy , 
Fountains  grotesque,  new  trees,  bespangled  cave.~, 
Echoing  grottoes  full  of  tumbling  waves, 
And  moonlight :  ay,  to  all  the  mazy  world 
Of  silvery  enchantment !  who,  upfurled 
Beneath  thy  drowsy  wing  a  triple  hour, 
But  renovates  and  lives  ?  ^ 

Labor  is  the  Lethe  of  the  Past  and  of  the 
Present.'^ 


Rkmembeiz. 

In  the  morning,  when  you  awake,  accustom 
yourself  to  think  first  upon  God,  or  something 
in  order  to  his  service ;  and  at  night  also  let 
him  close  thine  eyes,  and  let  your  sleep  be 
necessary  and  healthful,  not  idle  and  expen- 
sive of  time,  beyond  the  needs  and  conven- 
iences of  nature ;  and  sometimes  be  curious 
to  see  the  preparation  which  the  sun  makes. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  91 

The  night  cometh  when  no  man  can  work. 

when  he  is  coming  forth  from  the  chambers 
of  the  east.** 

As  much  as  may  be  to  cut  off  all  imperti- 
nent and  useless  employments  of  your  life, 
unnecessary  and  fantastic  visits,  long  waitings 
upon  great  personages,  where  neither  duty 
nor  necessity  nor  charity  obliges  us  ;  all  vain 
meetings,  all  laborious  trifles,  and  whatsoever 
spends  much  time  to  no  real  civil,  religious, 
or  charitable  purpose. 

Let  not  your  recreations  be  lavish  spend- 
ers of  your  time,  but  choose  such  which  are 
healthful,  short,  transient,  recreative,  and  apt 
to  refresh  you  ;  but  at  no  hand  dwell  upon 
them,  or  make  them  your  great  employment ; 
for  he  that  spends  his  time  in  sports,  and  calls 
it  recreation,  is  like  him  whose  garment  is  all 
made  of  fringes,  and  his  meat  nothing  but 
sauces  ;  they  are  healthless,  chargeable,  and 
useless.* 

Laborare  est  orare. 

Rememhef., 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  stand  upon  the  shore, 
and  to  see  ships  tost  upon  the  sea  ;  a  pleasure 
to  stand  in  the  window  of  a  castle,  and  to  see 


92  ANGEL    VOICES. 

If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words. 

a  battle,  and  the  adventures  thereof  below ; 
but  no  pleasure  is  comparable  to  the  stand- 
ing upon  the  vantage-ground  of  Truth  (a  hill 
not  to  be  commanded,  and  where  the  air  is 
always  clear  and  serene) ;  and  to  see  the  er- 
rors and  wanderings,  and  mists  and  tempests, 
in  the  vale  below;  so  always  that  this  pros- 
pect be  with  pity,  and  not  with  swelling  or 
pride.  Certainly  it  is  heaven  upon  earth 
to  have  a  man's  mind  move  in  charity, 
rest  in  Providence,  and  turn  upon  the  poles 
of  truth." 


Remember, 

"Elias  was  a  man  of  like  passions  as  we 
are,"  says  St.  James,  to  wean  Christians  from 
that  false  idea  which  makes  us  reject  the 
examples  of  the  saints  as  disproportioned 
to  our  own  condition.  "These  were  saints," 
we  cry,  "and  not  men  like  us."  We  look  on 
them  as  being  crowned  in  glory  ;  and  now 
that  time  has  cleared  up  things,  it  does  really 
appear  so.  But  at  the  time  when  the  great 
Athanasius  was  persecuted,  he  was  a  man 
who  bore  that  name ;  and  St.  Teresa,  in  her 
day,  was  like  other  religious  sisters  of  her 
order.^" 


ANGEL    VOICES.  93 

One  day  with  thee  is  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day. 

Remember, 

Time  sadly  overcometh  all  things,  and  is 
now  dominant,  and  sitteth  upon  a  sphinx,  and 
looketh  unto  Memphis  and  old  Thebes,  while 
his  sister  Oblivion  reclineth  semi-somnous  on 
a  pyramid,  gloriously  triumphing,  making 
puzzles  of  Titanian  erections,  and  turning 
old  glories  into  dreams.  History  sinketh  be- 
neath her  cloud.  The  traveller,  as  he  passeth 
amazedly  through  those  deserts,  asketh  of 
her,  Who  builded  them .''  and  she  mum- 
bleth  something,  but  what  it  is  he  heareth 
not." 

Remember  and  rejoice,  "  in  the  dark  hour, 
that  thy  life  dwells  in  the  midst  of  a  wider 
and  larger  life.     The  earth-clod  of  the  globe 

has  been  divinely  breathed  upon The 

sea  of  time  glitters  like  the  sea  of  space,  with 
countless  beings  of  light ;  death  and  resurrec- 
tion are  the  valleys  and  mountains  of  the  ever- 
swelling  ocean.  There  exists  no  dead  anat- 
omy ;  what  seems  to  be  such  is  only  another 
body.  Without  a  universal  living  existence, 
there  would  be  nothing  but  a  wide,  all-en- 
compassing death.  We  cling  like  mosses 
to  the  Alps  of  nature,  drawing  life  from 
the  high  clouds, and  the  fly  of  a  day 


94  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Let  your  speech  be  always  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt. 

may  retrace  its  infinite  series  of  progenitors, 
to  those  first  beings  of  its  kind  which  played 
over  the  waters  of  Paradise  before  the  even- 
ing sun.** 

Remembek, 

If  there  is  any  person  to  whom  you  feel  dis- 
like, that  is  the  person  of  whom  you  ought 
never  to  speak."' 

Forget  not  the  words  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne : 
"There  is  no  man  of  so  discordant  and  jar- 
ring a  temper,  to  which  a  tunable  disposition 
may  not  strike  a  harmony." 

'T  is  a  kind  of  good  deed  to  say  well ; 
And  yet  words  are  no  deeds.* 

Remember, 

Expression  is  a  sacred  thing;  it  comes  free 
only  out  of  deep  and  rich  experiences ;  it  is 
forced  at  the  peril  of  a  man's  soul ;  it  is  wrung 
out  of  him  only  at  the  price  of  the  spoiling 
of  his  nature.  Perhaps  the  rarest  gift  that 
God  confers  upon  a  man  is  the  power  of  inter- 
esting, quickening,  or  elevating  other  men  by 
the  utterance  of  his  thoughts,  especially  upon 
subjects  spiritual  and  eternal,  when  they  touch 
no  living  passion. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  95 


He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear. 


It  is  not  to  think  of  these  things  that  is 
unnatural  or  an  effort,  but  to  think  of  them 
with  the  view  of  one's  thoughts  passing  into 
words,  that  they  may  raise  to  spring-tides 
the  Hving  waters  that  He  latent  in  the  cells  of 
other  men's  souls.  It  is  this,  to  have  to  think 
and  feel  with  a  view  to  others,  that  so  often 
stops  thought  itself,  breaks  its  living  flow,  and 
curdles  and  taints  the  emotion,  by  the  re- 
flection of  how  it  is  to  be  used.  The  desire 
for  the  utterance  of  a  man's  spirit  in  any 
deep  direction  is  intermittent,  and,  even  to  the 
richest  nature  and  most  sympathizing  heart, 
can  only  be  occasional."* 

There  is  great  force  hidden  in  a  sweet  com- 
mand. 

Remember. 

A  man  that  is  of  judgment  and  understand- 
ing shall  sometimes  hear  ignorant  men  differ, 
and  know  well  within  himself  that  those  which 
so  differ  mean  one  thing,  and  yet  they  them- 
selves would  never  agree.  And  if  it  come  so 
to  pass,  in  that  distance  of  judgment  which  is 
between  man  and  man,  shall  not  we  think  that 
God  above,  that  knows  the  heart,  doth  not 
discern  that  frail  men,  in  some  of  their  contra- 


96  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  then  face  to  face. 

dictions,  intend  the  same  thing,  and  accepteth 
of  both  ? " 


Remember, 

St.  Gregory  reckons  sadness  — "  the  sad- 
ness of  the  world,  worldly  sorrow" — among 
the  seven  capital  sins ;  and  we  read  in  the 
Meditations  for  the  English  College  at  Lis- 
bon, "  Sadness  proceedeth  from  self-love  ;  and 
joy,  from  the  love  of  God." 

There  are  briers  besetting  every  path, 

Which  call  for  patient  care  ; 
There  is  a  cross  in  every  lot, 

And  an  earnest  need  for  prayer  ; 
But  a  lowly  heart,  that  leans  on  Thee, 

Is  happy  anywhere."^ 

The  action  of  the  soul  is  oftener  in  that 
which  is  felt  and  left  unsaid,  than  in  that 
which  is  said  in  any  conversation.  It  broods 
over  every  society,  and  men  unconsciously  seek 
for  it  in  each  other." 

Remember, 

De  Quincey  says,  that  all  our  thoughts  have 
not  words  corresponding  to  them  ;  many  of 
them,  in  our  imperfectly  developed  nature, 
can  never  express  themselves  in  acts,  but  must 


ANGEL    VOICES.  97 

Star  differeth  from  star  in  glory. 

lie,  appreciable  by  God  only,  like  the  silent  melo- 
dies in  a  great  musician's  heart,  never  to  roll 
forth  from  harp  or  organ. 

Remember. 

He  who   agrees   with  himself  agrees   with 
others.* 


Remember. 

Nothing  recalls  the  close  of  life  to  a  noble- 
hearted  young  man  so  much  as  precisely  the 
happiest  and  fairest  hours  which  he  passes. 
Gottreich,  in  the  midst  of  the  united  fragrance 
and  beauty  of  the  flowers  of  joy,  even  with 
the  morning  star  of  life  above  him,  could  not 
but  think  on  the  time  when  the  same  should 
appear  to  him  as  the  evening  star,  warning 
him  of  sleep 

"I  will,  then,"  he  said,  "live  through  the 
daytime  of  truth  attentively,  and  bear  it  away 
with  me  to  the  evening  dusk,  that  it  may 
lighten  my  end.'"* 

Remember, 

To  live  nobly,  we  must  be  noble ;  and  we 
become  noble  by  resolutely  banishing  every 
unworthy   thought   and    feeling.      This   is  as 


98  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Awake  to  righteousness. 

much  a  part  of  a  good  life  as  sedulously  ful- 
filling the  ofiices  of  affection.  Some  persons 
feel  that  devoting  the  whole  life  to  family 
duties  is  the  only  safe  thing.  They  prize  so 
highly  the  satisfaction  of  filling  their  ideal  of 
life,  that  they  are  afraid  to  enlarge  it.  Those 
are  bold  who  willingly  narrow  it."* 

Remember 

Catherine  Adorna,  who  was  in  the  habit  of 
speaking  not  only  of  purity  of  the  heart,  but, 
what  is  of  hardly  less  importance,  of  purity  of 
conscience.  Sanctification  gives  to  the  con- 
science intensity  and  multiplicity  of  existence  ; 
so  that,  like  the  flaming  sword  of  the  cherubim, 
it  turns  every  way,  and  guards  the  tree  of  life."' 

Let  us  keep  in  mind  the  Chinese  proverb : 
"Virtue  does  not  give  talents,  but  it  supplies 
their  place.  Talents  neither  give  virtue  nor 
supply  the  place  of  it." 

Remember  Leigh  Hunt's  prayer :  "  May 
exalting  and  humanizing  thoughts  forever  ac- 
company me,  making  me  confident  without 
pride,  and  modest  without  servility." 

Remember. 

Man  can  only  learn  to  rise,  from  the  considr 
eration  of  that  which  he  cannot  surmount.'* 


ANGEL    VOI.CES. 


99 


Thou  knowest  not  what  is  the  way  of  the  spirit. 
Rk  MEMBER. 

If  one  listens  to  the  faintest,  but  constant, 
suggestions  of  his  genius,  which  are  certainly 
true,  he  sees  not  to  what  extremes,  or  even 
insanity,  it  may  lead  him  ;  and  yet  that  way, 
as  he  grows   more  resolute  and   faithful,   his 

road    lies No    man    ever    followed    his 

genius  till  it  misled  him.  Though  the  result 
were  bodily  weakness,  yet  perhaps  no  one 
can  say  that  the  consequences  were  to  be 
regretted,  for  these  were  a  life  in  conformity 
with  higher  principles.  If  the  day  and  the 
night  are  such  that  you  greet  them  with  joy, 
and  life  emits  a  fragrance  like  flowers  and 
sweet-scented  herbs,  —  is  more  elastic,  more 
starry,  more  immortal,  —  that  is  your  success. 
All  nature  is  your  congratulation,  and  you 
have  cause  momentarily  to  bless  yourself 
The  greatest  gains  and  values  are  furthest 
from  being  apprehended.  We  easily  come  to 
doubt  if  they  exist.  We  soon  forget  them. 
They  are  the  highest  reality.  Perhaps  the 
facts  most  astounding  and  most  real  are  never 
communicated  by  man  to  man.  The  true 
harvest  of  my  daily  life  is  somewhat  as  in- 
tangible and  indescribable  as  the  tints  of 
morning  or  evening.      It  is  a  little  star-dust 


lOO  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly. 

caught,  a  segment  of  a  rainbow  which  I  have 
clutched.^'* 

"  For  we  are  hasty  builders,  incomplete  ; 
Our  Master  follows  after,  far  more  slow 
And  far  more  sure  than  we  ;  for  frost  and  heat, 
And  winds  that  breathe,  and  waters  in  their  flow, 
Work  with  Him  silently. " 

Remembek. 

Most  natures  are  insolvent ;  cannot  satisfy 
their  own  wants,  have  an  ambition  out  of  all 
proportion  to  their  practical  force,  and  so  do 
lean  and  beg  day  and  night  continually.** 

Let  us  not  forget  these  words  of  De  Sales  : 
"We  must  never  undervalue  any  person.  The 
workman  loves  not  that  his  work  should  be  de- 
spised in  his  presence.  Now  God  is  present 
everywhere,  and  every  person  is  his  work." 

Remember. 

To  observe  the  calmness  of  great  men,  not- 
ing by  the  way  that  real  greatness  belongs  to 
no  station  and  no  set  of  circumstances.  This 
calmness  is  the  cause  of  their  beautiful  be- 
havior. Vanity,  injustice,  intemperance,  are 
all  smallnesses  arising  from  a  blindness  to 
proportion  in  the  vain,  the  unjust,  the  intem- 
perate.    Whereas  no  one  thing,  unless  it  be 


ANGEL    VOICES.  lOI 


Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow. 


the  love  of  God,  has  such  a  continuous  hold 
on  a  great  mind  as  to  seem  all  in  all  to  it/^ 

Spirit  of  childhood  !  loved  of  God, 
By  Jesus'  spirit  now  bestowed, 
How  often  have  I  longed  for  thee  ; 
O  Jesus,  form  thyself  in  me  ! 

And  help  me  to  become  a  child 
While  yet  on  earth,  meek,  undefiled. 
That  I  may  find  God  always  near. 
And  Paradise  around  me  here.*" 

Re  MEMBER. 

What  is  To-morrow  until  it  comes  ?  This 
moment  the  evening  air  thrills  with  a  purple 
of  which  "no  painter  as  yet  has  caught  the 
tint,  no  poet  the  meaning ;  no  silent  face 
passes  in  the  street  on  which  a  human  voice 
might  not  have  charm  to  call  out  love  and 
power;  the  Helper  yet  waits  near.  Here  is 
work,  life. 

Child-souls,  you  tell  me,  may  find  it  enough 
to  hold  no  past  and  no  future,  to  accept  the 
work  of  each  moment,  and  think  it  no  wrong 
to  drink  every  drop  of  its  beauty  and  joy  ;  we 
who  are  wiser  laugh  at  them.  It  may  be  ;  yet 
I  say  unto  you,  their  angels  only  do  always 
behold  the  face  of  our  Father  in  the  New 
Year."' 


I02  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Why  sleep  ye  f     Arise  and  pray. 

His  name  was  Care  ;  a  blacksmith  by  his  trade, 
That  neither  day  nor  night  from  working  spared  ; 
But  to  small  purpose  yron  wedges  made  : 
Those  be  unquiet  thoughts  that  careful  minds  invade.^ 

Rememrek, 

The  wise  words  of  one  who  confessed  to 
himself  early  one  morning,  "  I  am  in  a  very 
cranky  sort  of  humor ;  I  must  take  care  what 
I  am  about  to-day."  These  strange  attacks 
of  gloom  and  restlessness  are  suddenly  and 
wonderfully  alleviated  by  the  interposition  of 
any  subject  of  pleasurable  excitement ;  and 
for  a  long  period  of  my  life  I  opposed  them 
after  the  fashion  in  which  unwise  parents  quiet 
a  fractious  child,  by  giving  it  a  cake  or  a  new 
toy ;  that  is  to  say,  I  went  forth  and  bought 
something  pretty  or  pleasant,  or  wrote  a  letter, 
or  made  a  call  upon  somebody  or  other ;  in 
short,  I  made  an  effort  to  produce  a  feeling  of 
agreeable  excitement  in  the  place  of  the  ennui 
that  disturbed  and  dissatisfied  me.  It  was 
really  a  great  many  years  before  I  discovered 
that  it  was  no  accidental  or  trifling  disturb- 
ance of  the  moral  system  which  these  attacks 
of  restlessness  indicated,  but  that  they  were 
the  necessary  and  natural  accompaniments  of 
a  lapsed  spiritual  condition. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  103 


Be  thou  faithful  unto  death. 


Well,  then,  as  soon  as  I  had  breakfasted,  I 
informed  myself  that  there  would  be  no  going 
to  town  to-day  to  buy  either  books  or  music, 
for  neither  was  wanted. 

Many  persons  may  say,  "  Well,  suppose 
you  had  dissipated  your  uncomfortable  feel- 
ings by  indulging  yourself  with  the  purchase 
of  any  little  matter  you  had  a  fancy  for,  where 
would  be  the  harm  ? "  To  which  I  reply,  that 
it  is  not  the  mode  in  which  this  restlessness  of 
nature  acts  that  is  of  so  much  importance  as 
the  thing  itself  The  disease  itself  is  the 
dreadful  thing,  and  that  which  is  to  be  fought 
against.*^ 

Remember, 

Two  worlds  are  ours,  one  creative  of  the 
other.  There  is  the  inner  realm  of  thought, 
emotion,  and  imagination,  and  there  is  the 
outward  realm  of  practice,  where  thought, 
emotion,  and  imagination  take  their  investi- 
ture of  flesh  and  matter,  and  pass  into  nature 
and  history.  In  one  we  have  them  in  their 
warmth  and  fusion,  in  the  other  we  have  them 
crystallized  into  fact.  All  radical  changes  in 
character  begin  in  the  inner  realm  of  thought 
and  emotion.     There  we  are  moved  upon  by 


I04 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life. 


the  powers  that  are  above  us  ;  by  the  Eternal 
Spirit  that  hes  on  our  soul  like  a  haunting 
presence,  giving  us  visions  of  celestial  purity, 
bitter  compunctions,  sighs  for  a  better  state, 
and  images  that  float  down  out  of  heaven 
through  our  fancies.  But  none  of  these  are 
yet  ours.  They  sometimes  come  without 
any  agency  of  our  own.  Thus  far  they  have 
wrought  no  change  in  character,  for  they  have 
not  yet  passed  under  the  action  of  a  human 
will.  Left  to  themselves,  they  are  as  indeter- 
minate as  celestial  ethers.  They  are  appro- 
priated by  a  distinct  agency  on  our  part, 
which  consists  in  giving  them  a  place  by  our 
own  right  arm  among  fixed  and  solid  realities. 
The  thoughts  and  emotions  wrought  in  us  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  are  as  yet  foreign  to  us. 
They  are  heavenly  treasures  let  down  within 
our  grasp.  We  grasp  them  by  fixing  them  in 
the  voluntary  life,  and  then  they  are  forever 

121 

ours. 


The  fairest  action  of  our  human  life 
Is  scorning  to  revenge  an  injury  ; 

For  who  forgives  without  a  further  strife, 
His  adversary's  heart  to  him  doth  tie. 

And  't  is  a  firmer  conquest  truly  said, 

To  win  the  heart,  than  overthrow  the  head.' 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 05 

Be  not  a  forgetful  hearer. 

Remember, 

There  's  always  morning  somewhere  in  the 
world.* 

Pythagoras  taught  that  we  should  avoid  and 
amputate  by  every  possible  artifice,  by  fire 
and  sword,  and  all  various  contrivances,  from 
the  body,  disease ;  from  the  soul,  ignorance ; 
from  the  belly,  luxury  ;  from  a  city,  sedition  ; 
and  at  the  same  time,  from  all  things,  in 
moderation.  Such,  therefore,  was  the  com- 
mon form  of  his  life  at  that  time,  both  in 
words  and  actions. 

Sadi  says :  "  Abu-Horairah  was  making  a 
daily  visit  to  the  prophet  Mustafa-Moham- 
med, on  whom  be  God's  blessing  and  peace. 
He  said,  '  O  Abu-Horairah,  let  me  alone  every 
other  day,  that  so  afifection  may  increase  ;  that 
is,  come  not  every  day,  that  we  may  get  more 
lovincT.' " 


Remember 

Wan  Tsze  always  considered  a  thing  three 
times  before  he  acted.  Confucius,  hearing  of 
it,  said,  "Twice  may  do."  (He  means  Wan 
Tsze  was  in  danger  of  wasting  time  in  doubt, 
or  losing  spirit  in  letter.)^""* 


I06  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Be  a  doer  of  the  work. 

Remembkk. 

Sternness  and  levity  were  the  two  constitu- 
tional evils  which  most  severely  exercised  Mr. 
Cecil.  But  so  far  had  grace  triumphed  over 
these  enemies,  that  the  very  opposite  features 
were  the  most  prominent  in  his  character, 
and  no  one  could  approach  him  without  feel- 
ing himself  with  a  most  tender  and  serious 
mind."' 

Remember, 

The  spoken  word,  the  written  poem,  is  said 
to  be  an  epitome  of  the  man  ;  how  much 
more  the  done  work.  Whatsoever  of  mo- 
rality and  intelligence,  what  of  patience,  per- 
severance, faithfulness,  of  method,  insight, 
ingenuity,  energy,  in  a  word,  whatsoever  of 
strength  the  man  had  in  him  will  be  written 
in  the  work  he  does. 

Great  honor  to  him  whose  Epic  is  a  melodi- 
ous hexameter  Iliad.  But  still  greater  honor 
if  his  Epic  be  a  mighty  empire  slowly  built 
together,  a  mighty  series  of  heroic  deeds,  — 
a  mighty  conquest  over  chaos.  There  is  no 
mistaking  this  latter  Epic.  Deeds  are  greater 
than  words.  Deeds  have  such  a  life,  mute 
but  undeniable,  and  grow  as  living  trees  and 


ANGEL    VOICES.  loj 

The  glory  of  the  terrestrial. 

fruit-trees    do :    they   people    the   vacuity    of 
Time,  and  make  it  green  and  worthy.^ 

Re.meatbkk, 

Persons  first,  we  are  wont  to  consider,  and 
books  next,  in  the  order  of  influence.  But 
both  disappoint  and  deceive  more  or  less, — 
Nature  taking  the  larger  share  in  our  culture. 
Books  aid  us  as  we  have  the  skill  to  use  them 
to  advantage  ;  persons  best  by  indirect  means, 
as  if  they  served  us  not.  Nature  converts  us 
to  ourselves,  and  against  our  knowledge  or 
consent. 

Nature  is  the  armory  of  genius.  Cities 
serve  it  slightly,  books  and  colleges  chiefly  as 
they  celebrate  Nature.  She  is  the  first  school 
of  eloquence ;  her  images  bait  the  senses  to 
pluck  free  and  fair  the  befitting  rhetoric.  A 
good  writer  is  a  pensioner  of  sun  and  stars,  of 
fields,  woodlands,  water,  skies,  the  spectacle 
of  things  ;  agencies  these  more  than  libraries 
or  universities,  competing  successfully  for  the 
prizes  of  inspiration.  Whoever  would  strike 
effective  strokes  for  truth  and  ideas,  for  the 
times,  must  be  afoot  often  and  early  to  im- 
port the  stuff"  of  things  into  his  thoughts,  — 
the  sprightliness  and  point  that  tell  tenderly 


I08  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Jesus  went  through  the  corn-fields  on  the  Sabbath  day. 

and  deeply  upon  the  soul  of  mankind.  "  A- 
field  all  summer,  and  the  winter  spent  in 
studies  indoors,"  is  the  good  Anglo-Saxon 
rule,  and  as  good  for  the  Anglo-American  of 
to-day.  We  must  take  the  seasons  into  us, 
drinking  off  their  cup  daily,  if  we  will  live  in 
earnest,  and  take  life  with  the  zest  that  life  is, 
and  the  health  it  gives.  For  never  is  the 
mind  weaned  from  nature  or  ideas  ;  pasturing 
at  these  meadows,  she  plucks  their  fruits  un- 
restrained, loving  to  be  abroad  musing  and 
amused."' 

I  care  not,  fortune,  what  you  me  deny, 

You  cannot  rob  me  of  free  Nature's  grace, 
You  cannot  shut  the  windows  of  the  sky, 

Through  which  Aurora  shows  her  brightening  face. 
You  cannot  bar  my  constant  feet  to  trace 

The  woods  and  lawns  by  Uving  stream  at  eve. 
Let  health  my  nerves  and  finer  fibres  brace, 

And  I  their  toys  to  the  great  children  leave  ; 

Of  fancy,  reason,  virtue,  naught  can  me  bereave.'-'' 

Remkmfikk. 

In  this  world  there  is  one  godlike  thing,  the 
essence  of  all  that  ever  was  or  ever  will  be  of 
godlike  in  this  world  ;  the  veneration  done  to 
human  worth  by  the  hearts  of  men.*' 

Remempf.k 

The  graces  of  behavior  spring  from  a  sense 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


109 


We  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthy. 


of  beauty  planted  in  all  minds,  even  the 
meanest,  and  its  prevalence  is  the  symptom 
of  a  genial  culture,  distinguishing  man  or  child 
from  the  brute  he  were  otherwise.  There  is  a 
fine  religion,  or  the  seed  and  scion  of  sanctity, 
seen  in  that  blushing  diffidence  by  which  the 
loveliest  souls  are  characterized  and  shown, 
unconsciously  to  themselves,  by  implication. 
A  bashful  child  is  still  in  Paradise,  while  the 
flush  of  innocency  mantles  the  cheeks,  and  the 
maid  is  apparent  there. 

It  is  useless,  I  should  say  impious,  to  clothe 
for  show  merely  ;  as  useless  to  teach  manners 
as  to  give  innocence  ;  we  must  guard  and  keep 
the  last,  that  the  graces  of  good  behavior 
may  maintain  the  gloss  of  their  own,  and  be 
fine  manners  indeed,  —  an  emanation  of  the 
soul,  and  the  gesture  of  the  mind ;  self-respect 
and  sensibility  being  their  groundwork  and 
showing.  While  the  child  is  pure,  the  person 
innocent,  there  is  the  fine  behavior  of  necessity 
and  the  natural  piety  that  graces  its  owner 
as  counterfeit  piety  cannot.  Good  hearts  are 
always  graceful,  and  take  captive  against  any 
blemishes  of  nature.^ 

Stately  is  service  accepted,  but  lovelier  service  rendered, 
Interchange  of  service  the  law  and  condition  of  beauty  ; 
Any  way  beautiful  only  to  be  the  thing  one  is  meant  for. 


no  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Have  not  the  faith  of  Christ  with  respect  to  persoosw 

Remember, 

Wisdom  will  never  let  us  stand  with  any 
man  or  men  on  an  unfriendly  footing.  We 
refuse  sympathy  and  intimacy  with  people,  as 
if  we  waited  for  some  better  sympathy  and 
intimacy  to  come.  But  whence  and  when .-' 
To-morrow  will  be  like  to-day.     Life  wastes 

itself  while  we  are  preparing  to  live Let 

us  suck  the  sweetness  of  those  affections  and 
consuetudes  that  grow  near  us.  Undoubtedly 
we  can  easily  pick  faults  in  our  company,  can 
easily  whisper  names  prouder,  and  that  tickle 
the  fancy  more.  Every  man's  imaginatioii 
hath  its  friend  ;  and  pleasant  would  life  be 
with  such  companions.  But  if  you  cannot 
have  them  on  good  mutual  terms,  you  cannot 
have  them.  If  not  the  Deity,  but  our  ambi- 
tion, hews  and  shapes  the  new  relations,  their 
virtue  escapes,  as  strawberries  lose  their  flavor 
in  garden-beds." 

Your  little  child  is  your  only  true  demo- 
crat.^ 

Remember. 
^  Love,  like  the  opening  of  the  heavens  to 
the  saints,  shows  for  a  moment,  even  to  the 
dullest  man,  the  possibilities  of  the   human 
race.     He  has  faith,  hope,  and  charity  for  an- 


ANGEL    VOICES.  \  \  i 


If  ye  have  respect  to  persons,  ye  commit  sin. 

other  being,  perhaps  but  a  creation  of  his 
imagination  ;  still  it  is  a  great  advance  for  a 
man  to  be  profoundly  loving  even  in  his  im- 
aginations.** 

Remember. 

Be  not'  anxious  about  those  enjoyments 
which  result  from  the  society  of  accomplished 
and  intellectual  persons.  There  is  a  subtle 
snare  in  everything  that  appeals  to  the  mind 
on  the  side  of  its  tendency  to  self-glorification 
and  its  capacity  for  estimating  talent ;  and  we 
never  think  less  of  ourselves  for  being  in  asso- 
ciation with  gifted  persons.  Seek  delight  in 
that  which  meekens  rather  than  exalts  your 
mind.  Keep  a  watchful  eye  over  yourself  on 
the  side  of  your  disposition  to  self-exalta- 
tion.^^ 

So  Love  doth  loathe  disdainful!  nicitee.-" 

Remember. 

Form  no  connections  too  close  with  any 
who  live  only  in  the  atmosphere  of  admiration 
and  praise.  The  love  or  the  friendship  of  such 
people  rarely  contracts  itself  into  the  narrow 
circle  of  individuals.  You,  if  you  are  brilliant 
like  themselves,  they  will  hate ;  you,  if  you  are 
dull,  they  will    despise.     Gaze,    therefore,   on 


112  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Watch,  therefore. 

the  splendor  of  such  idols  as  a  passing  stran- 
ger. Look  for  a  moment  as  one  sharing  in 
the  idolatry  ;  but  pass  on  before  the  splendor 
has  been  sullied  by  human  frailty,  or  before 
your  own  generous  homage  has  been  con- 
founded with  offerings  of  weeds." 

Nightly  we  pitch  our  mo\-ing  tents 
A  day's  march  nearer  home.*-* 

Remembef. 
Heaven  is  first  a  temper,  and  then  a  place.^ 
The  ripeness,  or  unripeness,  of  the  occasion 
must  ever  be  well  weighed  ;  and,  generally,  it 
is  good  to  commit  the  beginnings  of  all  great 
actions  to  Argus  with  his  hundred  eyes  ;  and 
the  ends  to  Briareus  with  his  hundred  hands  ; 
first  to  watch,  and  then  to  speed.  For  the  hel- 
met of  Pluto,  which  maketh  the  politic  man  go 
invisible,  is  secrecy  in  the  council  and  celerity 
in  the  execution.  For  when  things  are  once 
come  to  the  execution,  there  is  no  secrecy 
comparable  to  celerity  ;  like  the  motion  of  a 
bullet  in  the  air,  which  flieth  so  swift  as  it  out- 
runs the  eye." 

Remember 

Nothing  but  effort  for  virtues  which  are  not, 
can  keep  alive  virtues  which  arc}^ 


ANGEL    VOICES.  \\X 


Give  to  hiin  that  asketh. 


There  is  not  on  the  earth  a  soul  so  base 

But  may  obtain  a  plai:e 

In  covenanted  grace  ; 
So  that  forthwith  his  prayer  of  laith  obtains 

Release  of  his  guilt-stains. 
And  first-fruits  of  the  second  birth,  which  rise 
From  gift  to  gift,  and  reach  at  length  the  eternal  prize, 
All  may  save  self ;  —  but  minds  that  heavenward  tower 

Aim  at  a  wider  power. 

Gifts  on  the  earth  to  shower. 
And  this  is  not  at  once  ;  —  by  fastings  gained. 

And  trials  well  sustained. 
By  pureness,  righteous  deeds,  and  toils  of  love, 
Abidance  in  the  truth  and  zeal  for  God  above.** 

Remember, 

A  lively  perception  of  the  transitoriness  of 
earth  is  an  ingredient  in  all  virtuous  deter- 
mination. It  is  not  sour  in  its  effect,  it  is  not 
at  all  cloistral,  it  is  not  melancholy,  it  is  not 
disheartening,  but  quite  otherwise. 

There  are  few  misfortunes,  whether  of  mind, 
body,  or  estate,  so  dangerous  as  that  disease 
of  the  spiritual  eye  by  which  it  fails  in  per- 
ception of  the  world  e\^nescence. 

"  To  smell  the  fresh  turf  is  wholesome  for 
the  body  ;  no  less  are  thoughts  of  immortality 
a  cordial  for  the  soul."  To  the  healthy  soul 
they  are  cordial ;  but  for  the  salvation  of  the 
luxurious  they  are  an  indispensable  astrin- 
gent* 


114  ANGEL    VOICES. 

This  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee. 

"The  tree 
Sucks  kindlier  nurture  from  a  soul  enriched 
By  its  own  fallen  leaves  :  and  man  is  made, 
In  heart  and  spirit,  from  deciduous  hopes 
And  tilings  that  seem  to  perish. " 

So  live,  that,  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  that  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death. 
Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry-slave  at  night. 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon  ;  but,  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams.** 


Part   II. 


OF    DEATH. 


We  have  the  sentence  of  death  in  ourselves,  that  we  should  not  trust  in 
ourselves,  but  in  God  who  raiseth  the  dead.  —  2  Cor.  i.  9. 

Yet  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him  ; 
He  hath  put  him  to  grief.  —  Isaiah  liii. 

Have  pity  upon  me,  have  pity  upon  me,  O  ye  my  friends  !  for  the  hand 
of  God  hath  touched  me.  — Job. 

That  which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die.  —  i  Cor.  xv.  36. 

Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Set  thine  house  in  order ;  for  thou  shall  die,  and 
not  live.  — Isaiah  xxxviii. 

For  we  must  needs  die,  and  are  as  water  spilt  on  the  ground,  which 
cannot  be  gathered  up  again  ;  neither  doth  God  respect  any  person  ;  yet 
doth  he  devise  means  that  his  banished  be  not  expelled  from  him.  — 
2  Sam.  xiv.  14. 

Put  thou  my  tears  into  thy  bottle :  are  they  not  in  thy  book  ?  —  Psalm 
Ivi.  8. 

If  ye  loved  me,  ye  would  rejoice,  because  I  go  to  my  Father.  — Jesus 
Christ. 

Death  gives  us  sleep,  eternal  youth,  and  immortality.** 

Death  is  another  life.     We  bow  our  heads 
At  going  out,  we  think,  and  enter  straight 
Another  golden  chamber  of  the  King's, 
Larger  than  this  we  leave,  and  lovelier. 


Our  little  systems  have  their  day  ; 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be*: 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  thee, 

And  thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they. 

We  have  but  faith  :  we  cannot  know  ; 

For  knowledge  is  of  things  we  see  ; 

And  yet  we  trust  it  comes  from  thee, 
A  beam  in  darkness  :  let  it  grow. 

Let  knowledge  grow  from  more  to  more, 
But  more  of  reverence  in  us  dwell ; 
That  mind  and  soul,  according  well. 

May  make  one  music  as  before, 

But  vaster 


Forgive  my  grief  for  one  removed, 

Thy  creature,  whom  I  found  so  fair. 
I  trust  he  lives  in  thee,  and  there 

I  find  him  worthier  to  be  loved.* 


ANGEL    VOICES.  WJ 

Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors. 


ANGEL  VOICES. 


Remember, 

The  strange  perversity  of  human  nature, 
that  we  are  wont  to  offer  nothing  but  images 
of  terror,  no  stars  of  cheering  light,  to  those 
who  lie  imprisoned  in  the  darkness  of  a  sick- 
bed, when  the  glitter  of  the  dew  of  life  is  wax- 
ing gray  and  dim  before  them.  It  is  indeed 
hard  that  lamentations  and  emotions  are  fre- 
quently vented  upon  the  dying,  which  would 
be  withheld  from  the  living  in  all  their  vigor. 

There  stands  no   lofty  spirit,    elevated 

above  the  circumstance  of  sorrow,  to  conduct 
the  prostrate  soul  of  the  sufferer,  thirsty  for 
the  refreshment  of  joy,  back  to  the  old  spring- 
tide waters  of  pious  recollection  ;  and  so  to 
mingle  these  with  the  last  ecstasies  of  life,  as 
to  give  the  dying  man  a  foreboding  of  his 
transition  to  another  state.  On  the  contrary, 
the  death-bed  is  narrowed  into  a  coffin  with- 
out  a   lid Our    exit    from   life   would, 


Il8  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Their  works  do  follow  them. 

therefore,  be  greatly  more  painful  than  our 
entrance  into  it,  were  it  not  that  our  good 
mother  Nature   had  previously  mitigated  its 

sufferings (as  we  learn  from  those  who 

have  recovered  from  apparent  death,  and  from 
the  demeanor  of  many  dying  persons,)  the 
brain  is,  as  it  were,  inundated  and  watered  by 
faint  eddies  of  bliss,  comparable  to  nothing 
upon  earth  better  than  to  the  ineffable  sensa- 
tions felt  by  a  patient  under  magnetic  treat- 
ment.** 

Remember, 

There  is  a  voice  from  the  tomb  sweeter 
than  song  ;  there  is  a  remembrance  of  the 
dead  to  which  we  turn  even  from  the  charms 
of  the  living.  These  we  would  not  exchange 
for  the  song  of  pleasure  or  the  bursts  of  rev- 
elry.^^ 

With  what  a  marvellous  vigor  can  the  soul 
Put  forth  its  hidden  strength,  looking  at  Death 
As  at  an  Angel  from  the  courts  of  God  ! 
And  with  what  beauty,  at  the  closing  hour, 
Will  childhood's  sweet  affections  blossom  out. "' 

All  heads  must  come 

To  the  cold  tomb  ; 
Only  the  actions  of  the  just 
Smell  sweet  and  blossom  in  the  dust.^^ 


ANGEL    VOICES,  119 


Let  us  wait  for  salvation. 


Remember, 

The  work  of  righteousness  shall  be  peace  ; 
and  the  effect  of  righteousness  quietness  and 
assurance  forever. 

A  life  well  spent  is  like  a  flower 
That  had  bright  sunshine  its  brief  hour ; 
It  flourished  in  pure  willingness, 
Discovered  strongest  earnestness, 
Was  fragrant  for  each  lightest  wind, 
Was  of  its  own  particular  kind. 
Nor  knew  a  tone  of  discord  sharp ; 
Breathed  alway  like  a  silver  harp. 
And  went  to  immortality, 
A  very  proper  thing  to  die."* 

'  Our  noisy  years  seem  moments  in  the  being 
Of  the  eternal  silence  ;  truths  that  wake, 
To  perish  never : 

Which  neither  listlessness  nor  mad  endeavor, 
Nor  man  nor  boy, 
Nor  all  that  is  at  enmity  with  joy, 
.     Can  utterly  abolish  or  destroy.  *•• 

With  what  shifts  and  pains  we  come  into 
the  world  we  remember  not,  but  't  is  com- 
monly found  no  easy  matter  to  get  out  of  it. 
Many  have  studied  to  exasperate  the  ways  of 
death,  but  fewer  hours  have  been  spent  to 
soften  that  necessity.  That  the  smoothest 
way  into  the  grave  is  made  by  bleeding,  as 
common  opinion  presumeth,  beside   the  sick 


120 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


Of  the  day  and  the  hour  knoweth  no  man. 


and  fainting  languors  which  accompany  that 
effusion,  the  experiment  in  Lucan  and  Seneca 
will  make  us  doubt. 

But  to  learn  to  die  is  better  than  to  study 
the  ways  of  dying.  Death  will  find  some 
ways  to  untie  or  cut  the  most  Gordian  knots 
of  life,  and  make  men's  miseries  as  mortal  as 
themselves  ;  whereas  evil  spirits,  as  undying 
substances,  are  inseparable  from  their  calam- 
ities ;  and,  therefore,  they  everlastingly  strug- 
gle under  their  angustias,  and,  bound  up  with 
immortality,  can  never  get  out  of  themselves.^^ 


Remembek, 

The  unskilful,  unexperienced  Christian 
shrieks  out  whenever  his  vessel  shakes,  think- 
ing it  always  a  danger  that  the  watery  pave- 
ment is  not  stable  and  resident  like  a  rock  ; 
and  yet  all  his  danger  is  in  himself,  none  at 
all  from  without  ;  for  he  is  indeed  moving 
upon  the  waters,  but  fastened  to  a  rock  ;  faith 
is  his  foundation,  and  hope  is  his  anchor,  and 
death  is  his  harbor,  and  Christ  is  his  pilot, 
and  heaven  is  his  country ;  and  all  the  evils 
of  poverty,  or  affronts  of  tribunals  and  evil 
judges,  of  fears  and  sadder  apprehensions,  are 
but  like  the  loud  wind  blowing  from  the  right 


ANGEL    VOICES.  I2I 


Why  seek  ye  the  living  among  the  dead? 

point,  they  make  a  noise  and  drive  faster  to 
the  harbor ;  and  if  we  do  not  leave  the  ship, 
and  leap  into  the  sea  ;  quit  the  interest  of  re- 
ligion, and  run  to  the  securities  of  the  world  ; 
cut  our  cables  and  dissolve  our  hopes  ;  grow 
impatient,  and  hug  a  wave,  and  die  in  its 
embraces  ;  we  are  as  safe  at  sea,  safer  in  the 
storm  which  God  sends  us,  than  in  a  calm 
when  we  are  befriended  with  the  world."'' 


Life  and  thought  have  gone  away 

Side  by  side, 
Leaving  door  and  windows  wide  : 
Careless  tenants  they  ! 

II. 
All  within  is  dark  as  night : 
In  the  windows  is  no  light ; 
And  no  murmur  at  the  door, 
So  frequent  on  its  hinge  before  ! 


Close  the  door,  the  shutters  close, 
Or  through  the  windows  we  shall  see. 
The  nakedness  and  vacancy 

Of  the  dark  deserted  house. 

IV. 
Come  away  ;  no  more  of  mirth 

Is  here,  or  merry-making  sound. 
The  house  was  builded  of  the  earth, 

And  shall  fall  again  to  ground. 


122  ANGEL    VOICES. 


The  harvest  of  the  earth  is  ripe. 


V. 
Come  away  ;  for  life  and  thought 
Here  no  longer  dwell ; 
But  in  a  city  glorious  — 
A  great  and  distant  city  —  have  bought 
A  mansion  incorruptible. 

Would  they  could  have  stayed  with  us. 

Reatember. 

The  harvest  must  be  wherever  the  Son  of 
Man  shall  send  forth  his  reapers  to  gather  us 
in.  The  little  child  that,  without  one  ques- 
tioning thought  or  fear,  resigns  itself  into  their 
hands,  though  but  an  opening  bud,  is  gathered 
into  the  harvest  of  the  Lord.  The  young 
girl,  who,  through  some  mysterious  sympathy 
with  them,  or  some  strange  monition  to  the 
soul,  seems  to  hear  the  sound  of  their  coming 
from  afar,  and,  without  apprehension  or  sur- 
prise, composes  herself  for  the  solemn  change, 
and  in  perfect  trust  leaves  all  she  loved  on 
earth,  goes  already  ripe  for  the  harvest.^** 

Whate'er  thou  lovest,  man,  that  too  become  thou  must ; 
God,  if  thou  lovest  God  ;  Dust,  if  thou  lovest  dust.**® 

"I  saw  in  seed-time,"  said  Thomas  Fuller, 
"a  husbandman  at  plough  on  a  very  raining 
day ;  asking  him  the  reason  why  he  would 
not  rather  leave  off  than  labor  in  such  foul 


ANGEL    VOICES.  123 


The  earth  was  reaped. 


weather,  his  answer  was  returned  to  me  in 
their  country  rhyme : 

*  Sow  beans  in  the  mud. 
And  they  '11  come  up  like  a  wood. ' 

This  could  not  but  remind  me  of  David's  ex- 
pression, '  They  that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap 
in  joy.  He  that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth, 
bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubtless  come 
again  with  rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with 
him.' 

"These  last  five  years  have  been  a  wet 
and  woful  seed-time  to  me,  and  many  of  my 
afflicted  brethren.  Little  hope  have  we,  as 
yet,  to  come  again  to  our  own  homes,  and  in 
a  literal  sense  now  to  bring  our  sheaves,  which 
we  see  others  daily  carry  away  on  their  shoul- 
ders. But  if  we  shall  not  share  in  the  former 
or  latter  harvest  here  on  earth,  the  third  and 
last  in  heaven  we  hope  undoubtedly  to  re- 
ceive." 

Take  them,  O  Death  !  and  bear  away 
Whatever  thou  canst  call  thine  own  ; 
Thine  image,  stamped  upon  this  clay, 
Doth  give  thee  that,  but  that  alone  : 

Take  them,  O  Grave  !  and  let  them  lie 
Folded,  upon  thy  narrow  shelves, 


124  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Thou  hast  delivered  mine  eyes  from  tears. 

As  garments  by  the  soul  laid  by, 
And  precious  only  to  ourselves. 

Take  them,  O  great  Eternity  ! 
Our  little  life  is  but  a  gust 
That  bends  the  branches  of  thy  tree, 
And  trails  its  blossoms  in  the  dust !  '^ 

Re  ME  MB/:/; 

Those  last  hours  of  the  German  pastor, 
when  his  son  "would  fain  have  infused  the 
fire  of  conquest  reflected  in  his  own  bosom, 
which  like  a  red  evening  cloud  was  announ- 
cing a  fair  dawn  to  Europe,  into  that  old  and 
once  strong  heart,  but  he  heard  neither  word 

nor  question  of  it A  dying  man  knows 

no  present,  —  nothing  but  the  future  and  the 
past. 

"Death  is  beautiful,"  murmured  the  old 
man,  "and  the  parting  in  Christ."  Then  he 
added,  more  and  more  emphatically,  "  O  thou 
blessed  God ! "  until  all  the  other  luminaries 
of  life  were  extinguished,  and  in  his  soul  there 
stood  nothing  but  the  one  sun  —  God  ! 

At  length  he  raised  himself,  and,  stretching 
out  his  arm  forcibly,  exclaimed  :  "  There  are 
three  fair  rainbows  over  the  evening  sun  ; 
I  must  go  after  the  sun,  and  pass  through 
with  him ! "  He  then  fell  back,  and  all  was 
over.** 


ANGEL    VOICES.  '   \2^ 


Hearken  unto  the  word  of  the  Lord. 


Hearken  to  yon  fine  warbler, 
Singing  aloft  in  the  tree  ; 
Hearest  thou,  O  traveller  ! 
What  he  singeth  to  me  ? 

Not  unless  God  made  sharp  thine  ear 
With  sorrows  such  as  mine. 
Out  of  that  delicate  lay  couldst  tliou 
Its  heavy  tale  divine.^* 

Remember, 

Those  —  so  few  !  —  who  walk  the  earth 
with  ever-present  consciousness  —  all  morn- 
ings, middays,  star-times  —  that  the  unknown, 
which  men  call  heaven,  is  "close  behind  this 
visible  scene  of  things."  "* 

He  that  has  light  within  his  own  clear  breast 
May  sit  i'  the  centre,  and  enjoy  bright  day  ; 
But  he  that  hides  a  dark  soul  and  foul  thoughts 
Benighted  walks  under  the  midday  sun ; 
Himself  is  his  own  dungeon." 

Remember. 

"  The  sorrow  which  God  appoints  is  purify- 
ing and  ennobling,  and  contains  within  it  a 
serious  joy." 

Remember. 

"  There  is  no  death  to  those  who  know  of  Life, 
No  Time  to  those  who  see  Eternity. " 


126  ANGEL    VOICES. 


Jesus  wept 


Rememhek 

Moderate  lamentation  is  the  right  of  the 
dead  ;  excessive  grief,  the  enemy  to  the  liv- 
ing." 

Remember 

In  the  last  hour,  that  pure  being  with  whom 
thy  life  was  beautiful  and  great,  —  with  whom 
thou  hast  wept  tears  of  joy,  with  whom  thou 
hast  prayed  to  God,  and  in  whom  God  ap- 
peared unto  thee,  in  whom  thou  didst  find  the 
first  and  last  heart  of  love,  —  and  then  close 
thine  eyes  in  peace  ! 

"  Ay,  this  day  shall  we  see  one  another 
again  ! "  continued  the  old  man  ;  but  he  spoke 
of  his  wife,  who  was  long  since  dead. 

But  be  one  sorrow  alone  forgiven  thee,  or 
made  good  to  thee,  —  the  sorrow  for  thy  dead 
ones ;  for  this  sweet  sorrow  for  the  lost  is  it- 
self but  another  form  of  consolation.  When 
the  heart  is  full  of  longing  for  them,  it  is  but 
another  mode  of  continuing  to  love  them ; 
and  we  shed  tears  as  well  when  we  think  of 
their  departure,  as  when  we  picture  to  our- 
selves our  joyful  reunion,  —  and  the  tears,  me- 
thinks,  differ  not** 


ANGEL    VOICES.  12/ 


Thou  shall  sleep  with  thy  fathers. 


IN    DEATH. 

I  saw  an  aged  man  upon  his  bier, 

His  hair  was  thin  and  white,  and  on  his  brow 
A  record  of  the  cares  of  many  a  year,  — 

Cares  that  were  ended  and  forgotten  now. 
And  there  was  sadness  round,  and  faces  bowed, 
And  women's  tears  fell  fast,  and  children  wailed  aloud  ! 

Then  rose  another  hoary  man,  and  said. 
In  faltering  accents,  to  that  weeping  train, 

Why  mourn  ye  that  our  aged  friend  is  dead  ? 
Ye  are  not  sad  to  see  the  gathered  grain. 

Nor  when  their  mellow  fruit  the  orchards  cast, 

Nor  when  the  yellow  woods  shake  down  the  ripened  mast. 

Ye  sigh  not  when  the  sun,  his  course  fulfilled. 
His  glorious  course,  rejoicing  earth  and  sky. 

In  the  soft  evening,  when  the  winds  are  stilled, 
Sinks  where  his  islands  of  refreshment  lie. 

And  leaves  the  smile  of  his  departure,  spread 

O'er  the  warm-colored  heayen  and  ruddy  mountain  head. 

Why  weep  ye,  ^en,  for  him,  who,  having  run 
The  bound  of  man's  appointed  years,  at  last. 

Life's  blessings  all  enjoyed,  life's  labors  done, 
Serenely  to  his  final  rest  has  passed. 

While  the  soft  memory  of  his  virtues  yet 

Lingers,  like  twilight  hues  when  the  bright  sun  is  set  ? 

His  youth  was  innocent ;  his  riper  age 

Marked  with  some  acts  of  goodness,  every  day  ; 

And  watched  by  eyes  that  loved  him,  calm  and  sage, 
Faded  his  late  declining  years  away. 

Cheerful  he  gave  his  being  up,  and  went 

To  share  the  holy  rest  that  waits  a  life  well  spent. 


128  ANGEL    VOICES. 

I  will  lay  me  down  in  peace  and  sleep. 

That  life  was  happy  ;  every  day  he  gave 
Thanks  for  the  fair  existence  that  was  his  ; 

For  a  sick  fancy  made  him  not  her  slave, 
To  mock  him  with  her  phantom  miseries. 

No  chronic  tortures  racked  his  aged  limb, 

For  luxury  and  sloth  had  nourished  none  for  him. 

And  I  am  glad  that  he  has  lived  thus  long. 
And  glad  that  he  has  gone  to  his  reward, 

Nor  deem  that  kindly  Nature  did  him  wrong 
Softly  to  disengage  the  vital  cord. 

When  his  weak  hand  grew  palsied,  and  his  eye 

Dark  with  the  mists  of  age,  it  was  his  time  to  die.** 

Remember, 

That,  though  the  realm  of  Death  seems  an 
enemy's  country  to  most  men,  on  whose  shores 
they  are  loathly  driven  by  stress  of  weather, 
to  the  wise  man  it  is  the  desired  port  where  he 
moors  his  bark  gladly,  as  in  some  quiet  haven 
of  the  Fortunate  Isles  ;  it  is  the  golden  west 
into  which  his  sun  sinks,  and,  sinking,  casts 
back  a  glory  upon  the  leaden  cloud-rack  which 
had  darkly  besieged  his  day." 

The  death-bed  of  the  just,  — 
Angels  should  paint  it,  —  Angels  ever  there  ! 
There  on  a  post  of  honor  and  of  joy.®' 

Remember. 

There  is  healing  in  the  bitter  cup.  God 
takes  away,  or  removes  far  from  us,  those  we 


ANGEL    VOICES.  129 

Lighten  my  eyes,  lest  I  sleep  the  sleep  of  death. 

love,  as  hostages  of  our  faith  (if  I  may  so  ex- 
press it)  ;  and  to  those  who  look  forward  to  a 
reunion  in  another  world,  where  there  will  be 
no  separation,  and  no  mutability  except  that 
which  arises  from  perpetual  progressiveness, 
the  evening  of  life  becomes  more  delightful  than 
the  morning,  and  the  sunset  offers  brighter  and 
lovelier  visions  than  those  which  we  build  up 
in  the  morning  clouds,  and  which  appear  be- 
fore the  strength  of  the  day.  Faith  is  that 
precious  alchemy  which  transmutes  grief  into 
joy  ;  or  rather,  it  is  the  pure  and  heavenly 
Euphrasy,  which  clears  away  the  film  from 
our  mortal  sight,  and  makes  affliction  appear 
what  it  really  is,  a  dispensation  of  mercy.^"* 

Remember, 

From  our  mere  eyes  Death  takes  only  the 
visible  form  of  the  objects  of  our  love,  for  this 
is  only  borrowed  ;  from  our  souls  it  cannot 
take  the  love  itself  to  which  that  is  subservi- 
ent, for  it  is  given  us  forever.  The  very  grief 
that  wastes  us  testifies  that,  in  his  true  worth, 
the  companion  we  lamertt  as  lost  is  with  us 
still ;  for  is  it  not  the  idea  of  him  that  weeps 
in  us,  —  his  image  that  supplies  the  tears? 
His  best  offices  he  will  continue  to  us  yet,  if 
9 


r 


130  ANGEL    VOICES. 

The  maid  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth. 

we  are  true  to  him  ;  with  serenest  look,  as 
through  the  windows  of  the  soul,  rebuking  our 
disquiet,  bracing  our  faith,  quickening  our  con- 
science, and  cooling  the  fever-heats  of  life. 
Doubtless  the  thought  of  him  is  transmuted 
from  gladness  into  sorrow.  But  will  any  true 
heart  say,  that  an  affection  is  an  evil  because 
it  is  sad,  and  wish  to  shake  it  off  the  moment 
it  brings  pain  t  Call  it  what  you  will,  that 
is  not  love  which  itself  is  anxious  to  grow 
cold ;  the  emotions  of  a  faithful  soul  never 
entertain  a  suicidal  purpose,  and  plan  their 
own  extinction  ;  rather  do  they  reproach  their 
own  insensibility,  and  passionately  pray  for  a 
greater  vitality.  Whether,  then,  in  anxiety  or 
in  peace,  in  joy  or  in  regrets,  let  the  spirit  of 
affection  stay;  and  if  the  spirit  stay,  the  ob- 
jects, though  vanished,  leave  their  best  pres- 
ence with  us  still.  Thus  the  sainted  dead 
shall  finish  for  us  the  blessed  work  which 
they  began.  They  tarried  with  us,  and  nur- 
tured a  human  love ;  they  depart  from  us, 
and  kindle  a  divine. ** 

Death  is  the  crown  of  life. 
Were  death  denied,  poor  man  would  live  in  vain  ; 
Were  death  denied,  to  live  would  not  be  life ; 
Were  death  denied,  even  fools  would  wish  to  die. 
Death  wounds  to  cure  ;  we  fall,  we  rise,  we  reign, 


ANGEL    VOICES.  131 

I  sleep,  but  my  heart  waketh. 

Spring  from  our  fetters,  fasten  in  the  skies. 
This  King  of  Terrors  is  t;he  Prince  of  Peace. 
When  shall  I  die  to  vanity,  pain,  death  ? 
When  shall  I  die  ?     When  shall  I  live  forever  •'. " 

Remember. 

Death  is  a  commingling  of  eternity  with 
time  ;  in  the  death  of  a  good  man,  eternity  is 
seen  looking  through  time.^ 

THE    DEAD. 

"  Still  the  same,  no  charm  forgot,  — 
Nothing  lost  that  Time  had  given." 

Forget  not  the  Dead,  who  have  loved,  who  have  left  us, 
Who  bend  o'er  us  now  from  their  bright  homes  above  ; 

But  believe  —  never  doubt  —  that  the  God  who  bereft  us 
Permits  them  to  mingle  with  friends  they  still  love. 

Repeat  their  fond  words,  all  their  noble  deeds  cherish, 
Speak  pleasantly  of  them  who  left  us  in  tears  ;  — ■ 

Other  joys  may  be  lost,  but  their  names  should  not  perish 
While  time  bears  our  feet  througli  the  valley  of  years. 

Dear  friends  of  our  youth  !  can  we  cease  to  remember 
The  last  look  of  life,  and  the  low-whispered  prayer  ? 

O,  cold  be  our  hearts  as  the  ice  of  December, 

When  Love's  tablets  record  no  remembrances  there  ! 

Then  forget  not  the  Dead,  who  are  evermore  nigh  us, 
Still  floating  sometimes  to  our  dream-haunted  bed  ;  — 

In  the  loneliest  hour,  in  the  crowd,  they  are  by  us  : 
Forget  not  the  dead,  —  O,  forget  not  the  dead  !  ^^^ 


132 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


He  saith.  Our  friend  Lazarus  sleepeth. 


Remember. 

The  word  friend  is  of  a  large  signification  ; 
and  means  all  relations  and  societies,  and 
whatsoever  is  not  enemy.  But  by  friendships, 
I  suppose  you  mean  the  greatest  love,  and  the 
greatest  usefulness,  and  the  most  open  com- 
munication, and  the  noblest  sufferings,  and 
the  most  exemplar  faithfulness,  and  the  sever- 
est truth,  and  the  heartiest  counsel,  and  the 
greatest  union  of  minds  of  which  brave  men 
and  women  are  capable.^ 

Remember, 

The  last  and  most  sacred  duty  of  friendship 
is  after  we  have  stood  upon  the  planks  round 
his  grave.  When  my  friend  is  dead,  I  will  not 
turn  into  his  grave  and  be  stifled  with  his 
earth ;  but  I  will  mourn  for  him,  and  perform 
his  will,  and  take  care  of  his  relatives,  and  do 
for  him  as  if  he  were  alive  ;  and  thus  it  is  that 
friendships  never  die.*'* 


Good  night !  —  now  cometh  gentle  sleep, 
And  tears  that  fall  like  gentle  rain  ; 

Good  night !     O,  holy,  blest,  and  deep 
The  rest  that  follows  pain  ! 

How  should  we  reach  God's  upper  light, 

If  life's  long  day  had  no  "  good  night  "  ? '' 


ANGEL    VOICES.  133 

God  hath  given  to  us  eternal  life. 

Leaves  and  clustered  fruits,  and  flowers  eteme. 
Eternal  to  the  "world,  but  not  to  me.^ 


REAfEMBEK. 

The  iniquity  of  oblivion  blindly  scattereth 
her  poppy,  and  deals  with  the  memory  of  men 
without  distinction  to  merit  of  perpetuity. 
Who  can  but  pity  the  founder  of  the  pyra- 
mids ?  Erostratus  lives  that  burnt  the  Tem- 
ple of  Diana  ;  he  is  almost  lost  that  built  it. 
Time  hath  spared  the  epitaph  of  Adrian's 
horse,  confounded  that  of  himself  In  vain 
we  compute  our  felicities  by  the  advantage  of 
our  good  names,  since  bad  have  equal  decora- 
tions ;  and  Thersites  is  like  to  live  as  long  as 
Agamemnon.  Who  knows  whether  the  best 
of  men  be  known  ;  or  whether  there  be  not 
more  remarkable  persons  forgot  than  any  that 
stand  remembered  in  the  known  account  of 
time .''  Without  the  favor  of  the  everlasting 
register,  the  first  man  had  been  as  unknown 
as  the  last,  and  Methuselah's  long  life  had 
been  his  only  chronicle.^* 

O  eloquent,  just,  and  mighty  Death  !  whom 
none  could  advise,  thou  hast  persuaded  ;  what 
none  hath  dared,  thou  hast  done  ;  and  whom 
all  the  world  hath  flattered,  thou  only  hast 


134  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory. 

cast  out  of  the  world  and  despised  ;  thou  hast 
drawn  together  all  the  far-stretched  greatness, 
all  the  pride,  cruelty,  and  ambition  of  man, 
and  covered  it  all  over  with  these  two  narrow 
words,  —  Hicjacet !  '"^ 

Remembek 

This  fair  picture  of  true  piety,  drawn  by 
Jeremy  Taylor  from  the  life  and  death  of 
Frances,  Countess  of  Carbery. 

"  Her  religion  took  root  downward  in  hu- 
mility, and  brought  forth  fruit  upward  in  the 
substantial  graces  of  a  Christian  ;  in  charity 
and  justice;  in  chastity  and  modesty  ;  in  fair 
friendships  and  sweetness  of  society.  She  had 
not  very  much  of  the  forms  and  outsides  of 
godliness,  but  she  was  hugely  careful  for  the 
power  of  it,  for  the  moral,  essential,  and  useful 
parts,  such  which  would  make  her  to  be,  not 

seem  to  be,  religious In  all  her  religion, 

and  in  all  her  actions  of  relation  toward  God, 
she  had  a  strange  evenness  and  untroubled 
passage,  sliding  toward  her  ocean  of  God  and 
of  infinity  with  a  certain  and  silent   motion. 

Though  she  had  the  greatest  judgment 

and  the  greatest  experience  of  things  and  per- 
sons that  I  ever  yet  knew  in  a  person  of  her 
youth  and  sex  and  circumstances  ;  yet,  as  if 


ANGEL    VOICES.  135 


Whither  I  go  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter. 

she  knew  nothing  of  it,  she  had  the  meanest 
opinion  of  herself,  and,  Hke  a  fair  taper,  when 
she  shined  to  all  the  room,  yet  round  about 
her  own  station  she  had  cast  a  shadow  and  a 
cloud,  and  she  shined  to  everybody  but  her- 
self 

" But  so  it  was  that  the  thought  of 

death  dwelt  long  with  her,  and  grew,  from  the 
first  steps  of  fancy  and  fear,  to  a  consent ;  from 
thence,  to  a  strange  credulity  and  expectation 
of  it ;  and,  without  the  violence  of  sickness, 
she  died  as  if  she  had  done  it  voluntarily  and 
by  design,  and  for  fear  her  expectation  should 
have  been  deceived,  or  that  she  should  seem 
to  have  had  an  unreasonable  fear  or  apprehen- 
sion, or  rather  (as  one  said  of  Cato)  she  died 
as  if  she  were  glad  of  the  opportunity." 

Remember. 

Happy  are  they  which  live  not  in  that  dis- 
advantage of  time,  when  men  could  say  little 
for  futurity  but  from  reason  ;  whereby  the  no- 
blest minds  fell  often  upon  doubtful  deaths  and 
melancholy  dissolutions.  With  those  hopes 
Socrates  warmed  his  doubtful  spirits  against 
that  cold  potion  ;  and  Cato,  before  he  durst 
give  the  fatal  stroke,  spent  part  of  the  night 
in  reading  the  immortality  of  Plato,  thereby 


136  ANGEL    VOICES. 

I  am  the  life. 

confirming  his  wavering  hand   unto  the  ani- 
mosity of  that  attempt.'* 

Death,  thou  wast  once  an  uncouth,  hideous  thing ; 

But  since  our  Saviour's  death 
Has  put  some  blood  into  thy  face. 
Thou  hast  grown  sure  a  thing  to  be  desired 
And  full  of  grace.'" 

Remember, 

There  is  a  countrie 
Afar  beyond  the  stars 
Where  stands  a  winged  sentrie 
All  skilfull  in  the  wars. 
There,  above  noise  and  danger, 
Sweet  Peace  sits  crowned  with  smiles, 
And  One  born  in  a  manger 
Commands  the  beauteous  files. 
He  is  thy  gracious  friend. 
And  (O  my  soul,  awake  !) 
Did  in  pure  love  descend, 
,^  To  die  here  for  thy  sake. 

If  thou  canst  get  but  thither, 
There  growes  the  flowre  of  peace. 
The  Rose  that  cannot  wither. 
Thy  fortresse,  and  thy  ease." 

Remember 

Grief  is  only  the  memory  of  widowed  affec- 
tion. The  more  intense  the  delight  in  the 
presence  of  the  object,  the  more  poignant 
must  be  the  impression  of  the  absence 


ANGEL    VOICES.  137 


Blessed  are  they  that  mourn. 


These  associations  with  the  past  do  not  excite 
sorrow,  but  to  an  affectionate  mind  are  sor- 
row. The  morality,  then,  which  rebukes  sor- 
row, rebukes  love.  There  are  doubtless  cases 
not  infrequent,  in  which  the  mind  is  unduly 
overpowered  by  affliction,  in  which  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  reason  is  wholly  overset,  and  the 
energy  of  the  will  utterly  prostrated.  Here, 
beyond  controversy,  is  a  state  of  mind  morally 
wrong ;  for  God  never  absolves  us  from  our 
duties,  however  he  may  sadden  them.  But  to 
rebuke  the  feelings  of  grief  in  such  a  case  is 
to  cast  the  censure  in  the  wrong  place  :  it  is 
not  that  the  sorrow  is  excessive,  but  that  other 
emotions  are  defective  in  their  strength. 

The  wise  interpreter  of  his  own  nature  will 
let  his  mourning  affections  alone.  To  inter- 
fere with  them  would  be  to  wrestle  with  his 
own  strength.  But  he  will  draw  forth  into 
prominent  light  sentiments  now  sleeping  idly 
in  the  shaded  recesses  of  his  mind.  He  will 
summon  up  the  sense  of  responsibility,  to 
rouse  him  with  the  spectacle  of  his  relations 
to  God,  his  father,  and  his  brother,  man  ;  to 
recount  to  him  the  deeds  of  duty  and  the  toils 
of  thought  which  are  yet  to  be  achieved  ere 
life  is  done ;  to  show  him  the  circle  of  high 


138  ANGEL    VOICES. 

They  shall  be  comforted. 

faculties  which  the  Creator  has  given  him  to 
ennofcle  and  refine  and  keep  ready  for  a  world 
where  thought  and  virtue  are  immortalized. 
He  will  call  forth  his  affections  for  the  living 
who  surround  him,  and  whom  yet  it  is  happi- 
ness to  love  and  his  obligation  to  bless ;  and 
these  sympathies  will  be  fruitful  work  for  his 
hands,  and  interests  refreshing  to  his  heart ; 
here  are  some  of  the  invitations  to  the  aspir- 
ings of  benevolence,  to  bid  the  drooping  soul 
look  up.  And  the  sufferer  will  evoke  the 
spirit  of  Christian  trust  and  hope.  Invoke  the 
spirit  of  this  trust ;  and  though  sorrow  may 
not  dry  its  tears,  it  rises  to  a  dignity  above 
despair.*" 

Ri:\tEMBKR. 

He  whose  mission  it  was  to  teach  the  pater- 
nity of  Providence  and  the  serenity  of  the  im- 
mortal hope,  —  he  who  himself  lived  in  the 
divinest  peace  which  they  can  give,  thought  it 
no  treason  to  these  truths  to  weep.  To  the 
eye  of  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  sorrow  was  no 
sin  ;  nor  did  he,  who  was  emphatically  the 
Son  of  God,  see  in  even  the  passionate  utter- 
ance of  grief  any  of  that  spirit  of  filial  distrust 
towards  God,  and  reluctant  acceptance  of  his 
will,  which  have  often  been  charged  on  it  by 


ANGEL   VOICED.  1 39 


A  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief. 

the  hard  and  cold  temper  of  his  followers,  who 
would  multiply  the  penances  of  natural  emo- 
tion, and  sublime  from  the  Gospel  its  pure 
humanities.*" 

Be  sure  that  God 
Ne'er  dooms  to  waste  the  strength  he  deigns  to  impart. " 

Remember, 

Heaven  and  God  are  best  discerned  through 
tears ;  scarcely,  perhaps,  are  discerned  at  all 
without  them.  The  constant  association  of 
prayer  with  the  hour  of  bereavement  and  the 
scenes  of  death  suffices  to  show  this.  Yet  is 
this  effect  of  external  distress  only  a  particular 
instance  of  this  general  truth,  that  religion 
springs  up  in  the  mind  wherever  any  of  the 
infinite  affections  and  desires  press  severely 
against  the  finite  conditions  of  our  existence. 
Instead  of  slumbering  at  noon  in  Eden,  we 
must  keep  the  midnight  watch  within  Geth- 
semane.  We,  too,  like  our  great  Leader,  must 
be  made  perfect  through  suffering  ;  but  the 
struggle  by  night  will  bring  the  calmness  of 
the  morning ;  the  hour  of  exceeding  sorrow 
will  prepare  the  day  of  godlike  strength  ;  the 
prayer  for  deliverance  calls  down  the  power  of 
endurance.  And  while  to  the  reluctant  their 
cross  is  too  heavy  to  be  borne,  it  grows  light 
to  the  heart  of  willing  trust.'" 


140  ANGEL    VOICES. 

The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away : 

"  She  died  young." 
'•  I  think  not  so  ;  her  infelicity 
Seemed  to  have  years  too  many."  ^'* 

Remember. 
When  in  the  other  world  love  meets  love, 

it  will  not  be  like  Joseph  and  his  brethren, 

who  lay  upon  one  another's  necks  weeping  ; 

it  will  be  loving  and  rejoicing,  not  loving  and 

sorrowing."^ 

Endure  and  dare,  true  heart,  through  patience  joined 
With  boldness  come  we  at  a  crown  enriched 
With  thousand  blessings."' 

Remeatbek 
The  hour  of  death,  —  dark  hour  to  hopeless 

unbelief!  hour  to  which,  in  that  creed  of  de- 
spair, no  hour  shall  succeed  !  being's  last  hours  ! 
to  whose  appalling  darkness,  even  the  shadows 
of  an  avenging  retribution  were  brightness 
and  relief,  —  death  !  what  art  thou  to  the  Chris- 
tian's assurance  .■*  Great  hour  of  answer  to 
life's  prayer,  great  hour  that  shall  break  asun- 
der the  bond  of  life's  mystery,  —  hour  6f  re- 
lease from  life's  burden,  —  hour  of  reunion 
with  the  loved  and  lost,  —  what  mighty  hopes 
hasten  to  their  fulfilment  in  thee  !  What  long- 
ings, what  aspirations,  breathed  in  the  still 
night,  beneath  the  silent  stars  ;  what  dread 
emotions  of  curiosity ;  what  deep  meditations 


ANGEL    VOICES.  141 


Blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord. 


of  joy ;  what  hallowing  imaginings  of  never 
experienced  purity  and  bliss  ;  what  possibil- 
ities shadowing  forth  unspeakable  realities  to 
the  soul,  —  all  verge  to  their  consummation 
in  thee,  O  death  !  the  Christian's  death  !  what 
art  thou,  but  the  gate  of  life,  the  portal  of 
heaven,  the  threshold  of  eternity !  "^ 

They  are  not  lost 
Who  leave  their  parents  for  the  calm  of  heaven. 

I  know  well 
That  they  who  love  their  friends  most  tenderly 
Still  bear  their  loss  the  best.     There  is  in  love 
A  consecrated  power,  that  seems  to  wake 
Only  at  the  touch  of  death  from  its  repose, 
In  the  profoundest  depths  of  thinking  souls, 
Superior  to  the  outward  signs  of  grief, 
Sighing  or  tears,  — when  these  have  past  awa)-, 
It  rises  calm  and  beautiful,  like  the  moon, 
Saddening  the  solemn  night,  yet  with  that  sadness 
Mingling  the  breath  of  undisturbed  peace.  '^^ 

Rememdek. 

There  is  nothing  greater,  for  which  God 
made  our  tongues,  next  to  reciting  his  praises, 
than  to  minister  comfort  to  a  weary  soul. 
And  what  greater  measure  can  we  have,  than 
that  we  should  bring  joy  to  our  brother,  who 
with  his  dreamy  eyes  looks  to  heaven,  and 
round  about,  and  cannot  find  so  much  rest  as 
to  lay  his  eyelids  close  together,  —  than  that 


142  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep. 

thy  tongue  should  be  tuned  with  heavenly  ac- 
cents, and  make  the  weary  soul  to  listen  for 
light  and  ease,  and,  when  he  perceives  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  in  the  world,  and  in  the 
order  of  things,  as  comfort  and  joy,  to  begin 
to  break  out  from  the  prison  of  his  sorrows  ? 

So  have  I  seen  the  sun  kiss  the  frozen 

earth,  which  was  bound  up  with  the  images  of 
death,  and  the  colder  breath  of  the  north  ; 
and  then  the  waters  break  from  their  enclos- 
ures, and  melt  with  joy,  and  run  in  useful 
channels ;  and  the  flies  do  rise  again  from 
their  little  graves  in  walls,  and  dance  awhile 

in  the  air,  to  tell  that  there  is  joy  within 

So  is  the  heart  of  a  sorrowful  man  under  the 
discourses  of  a  wise  comforter  ;  he  breaks  from 
the  despairs  of  the  grave,  and  the  fetters  and 
chains  of  sorrow ;  he  blesses  God,  and  he 
blesses  thee,  and  he  feels  his  life  returning  ; 
for  to  be  miserable  is  death,  but  nothing  is 
life  but  to  be  comforted  ;  and  God  is  pleased 
with  no  music  from  below  so  much  as  in  the 
thanksgiving  songs  of  relieved  widows,  of  sup- 
ported orphans,  of  rejoicing  and  comforted 
and  thankful  persons.*" 

Rememher. 

If  the  nearness  of  our  last  necessity  brought 


ANGEL    VOICES.  143 

I  die  daily. 

a  nearer  conformity  unto  it,  there  were  a  hap- 
piness in  hoary  hairs,  and  no  calamity  in  half 
senses.  But  the  long  habit  of  living  indispos- 
eth  us  for  dying;  when  avarice  makes  us  the 
sport  of  death,  when  even  David  grew  polit- 
ically cruel,  and  Solomon  could  hardly  be 
said  to  be  the  wisest  of  men.  But  many  are 
too  early  old,  and  before  the  date  of  age. 
Adversity  stretcheth  our  days  ;  misery  makes 
Almena's  nights  (one  night  as  long  as  three), 
and  time  hath  no  wings  unto  it.^* 

God  !  whom  I  as  Love  have  kno\vn, 
Thou  hast  sickness  laid  on  me, 
And  these  pains  are  sent  of  Thee. 

In  my  weakness  be  Thou  strong, 

Be  Thou  sweet  when  I  am  sad, 

Let  me  still  in  Thee  be  glad, 
Though  my  pains  be  keen  and  long. 

Suffering  is  the  work  now  sent, 

Nothing  can  I  do  but  lie 

Suffering  as  the  hours  go  by  : 
All  my  powers  to  this  are  bent, 
Suffering  is  my  gain  ;  I  bow. 

To  my  Heavenly  Father's  will, 

And  receive  it  hushed  and  still ; 
Suffering  is  my  worship  now.^" 

Remember. 

It  is  the  heaviest  stone  that  melancholy  can 


144  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Behold,  we  count  them  happy  who  endure. 

throw  at  a  man,  to  tell  him  he  is  at  the  end 
of  his  nature :  or  that  there  is  no  further  state 
to  come,  unto  which  this  seems  progressional, 
and  otherwise  made  in  vain.  Without  this 
accomplishment,  the  natural  expectation  and 
desire  of  such  a  state  were  but  a  fallacy  in 
nature. 

But  the  superior  ingredient  and  obscured 
part  of  ourselves,  whereto  all  present  felicities 
afford  no  resting  contentment,  will  be  able  at 
last  to  tell  us  we  are  more  than  our  present 
selves,  and  evacuate  such  hopes  on  the  frui- 
tion of  their  own  accomplishment." 

High  hopes,  that  burned  like  stars  sublime, 
Go  down  the  heavens  of  Freedom  ; 
And  true  hearts  perish  in  the  time 
We  bitterliest  need  them  ! 
But  never  sit  we  down  and  say 
There  's  nothing  left  but  sorrow  ; 
We  walk  the  wilderness  to-day, 
The  promised  land  to-morrow. 

Build  up  heroic  lives,  and  all 
Be  like  a  sheathen  sabre. 
Ready  to  flash  out  at  God's  call, 
O  chivalry  of  labor  ! 
Triumph  and  toil  are  twins  ;  and  aye 
Joy  suns  the  cloud  of  sorrow  ;  — 
And  't  is  the  martyrdom  to-day 
Brings  victory  to-morrow.^** 


ANGEL    VOICES.  145 


All  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life. 

Remember, 

This  is  that  very  life  which  Christ  asks  us 
to  lay  down  for  him ;  this  life  of  which  he 
tells  us  that  he  who  loveth  it  shall  lose  it,  and 
he  who  loseth  it  for  his  sake  shall  keep  it 
unto  life  eternal.^ 

Upward  steals  the  life  of  man, 
As  the  sunshine  from  the  wall ; 
From  the  wall  into  the  sky  ; 
From  the  roof  along  the  spire. 
Ah  !  the  souls  of  those  that  die 
Are  but  sunbeams  lifted  higher.  ^^ 

We  ought  to  love  life  ;  we  ought  to  desire 
to  live  here  so  long  as  God  ordains  it ;  but  let 
us  not  so  encase  ourselves  in  time  that  we 
cannot  break  the  crust  and  begin  to  throw  out 
shoots  for  another  life."* 

Remember  the  touching  words  of  Southey 
in  recalling  the  fear  expressed  by  Henry 
Kirke  White,  "that  early  death  would  rob 
him  of  his  fame." 

Just  at  that  age  when  the  painter  would 
have  wished  to  fix  his  likeness,  and  the  lover 
of  poetry  would  delight  to  contemplate  him, 
in  the  fair  morning  of  his  virtues,  the  full 
spring  blossom  of  his  hopes,  —  just  at  that 
age   JiatJi  death   set  the  seal  of  eternity  upon 


146  ANGEL    VOICES. 

We  are  as  the  grass  of  the  field. 

him,  and  the  beautiful  hath  been  made  perma- 
nent. 

My  joy  is  Death  ! 
Death,  at  whose  name  I  oft  have  been  afeared, 
Because  I  wished  this  world's  eternity.** 

Remembek, 

It  is  as  natural  to  die  as  to  be  born  ;  and  to 
a  Httle  child,  perhaps,  the  one  is  as  painful  as 
the  other.  He  that  dies  in  an  earnest  pursuit 
is  like  one  that  is  wounded  in  hot  blood,  who 
for  the  time  scarce  feels  the  hurt ;  and  there- 
fore a  mind  fixed  and  bent  upon  somewhat 
that  is  good  doth  avert  the  dolors  of  death. 
But  above  all,  believe  it,  the  sweetest  canticle 
is  "Nunc  dimittis"  when  a  man  hath  obtained 
worthy  aims  and  expectations.  Death  hath 
this  also,  —  that  it  openeth  the  gate  of  fame, 
and  extinguisheth  envy.*' 

The  glories  of  our  birth  and  state 

Are  shadows,  not  substantial  things  ; 
There  is  no  armor  against  fate  ; 
Death  lays  his  icy  hands  on  kings  ; 
Sceptre  and  crown 
Must  tumble  down. 
And  in  the  dust  be  equal  made 
With  the  poor  crooked  scythe  and  spade. '^ 

Remember. 

The  iniquity  of  oblivion  blindly  scattereth 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 47 


Rejoice  evermore. 


her  poppy,  and  deals  with  the  memory  of  men 
without    distinction    to    merit    of   perpetuity. 

In  vain  we  compute  our  felicities  by  the 

advantage  of  our  good  names,  since  bad  have 

equal  duration Oblivion  is  not  to  be 

hired.  The  greater  part  must  be  content  to 
be  as  though  they  had  not  been,  to  be  found 
in  the  register  of   God,  not  in  the  record  of 

men The  night  of  time  far  surpasseth 

the  day :  and  who  knows  when  was  the  equi- 
nox.?" 

Like  a  common  weed 
The  sea-swell  took  her  hair.^* 

Remember, 

Were  the  happiness  of  the  next  world  as 
closely  apprehended  as  the  felicities  of  this,  it 
were  a  martyrdom  to  live  ;  and  unto  such  as 
consider  none  hereafter,  it  must  be  more  than 
death  to  die,  which  makes  us  amazed  at  those 
audacities  that  durst  be  nothing,  and  return 
into  their  chaos  again. 

But  the  contempt  of  death  from  corporal 
animosity  promoteth  not  our  felicity.  They 
may  sit  in  the  orchestra  and  noblest  seats 
of  heaven  who  have  held  up  shaking  hands 
in  the  fire,  and  humanly  contended  for  glo- 
ry." 


148  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Ye  now  have  sorrow ;  but  I  will  see  you  again. 

O  Light  of  light  celestial ! 

O  charity  ineffable  I 

Come  in  thy  hidden  majesty  ; 

Fill  us  with  love,  fill  us  with  Thee.*** 

Courage  !  ye  that  bear  the  sublime  lot  of 
sorrow !  It  is  not  forever  that  ye  suffer.  God 
wills  it.  It  is  the  ordinance  of  Infinite  Love 
to  procure  for  us  an  infinite  glory  and  beati- 
tude.'^ 

Remember, 

The  greatness  of  our  sufferings  points  to  a 
correspondent  greatness  in  the  end  to  be 
gained.  This  end  must  rise  higher  and 
brighter  before  us,  before  we  can  look  through 

the  dark  cloud  of  human  calamity 

Troubles,  disappointments,  afflictions,  sorrows, 
press  us  on  every  side,  that  we  may  rise  up- 
ward, upward,  ever  upward Misery, 

strictly  speaking,  and  in  its  full  meaning,  does 
not  belong  to  a  good  mind.  Misery  shall 
pass  into  suffering,  and  suffering  into  disci- 
pline, and  discipline  into  virtue,  and  virtue 
into  heaven.  So  let  it  pass  with  you.  Bend 
now  patiently  and  meekly  in  that  lowly  "wor- 
ship of  sorrow,"  till  in  God's  time  it  become 

the  worship  of  joy Remember,  too,  a 

man  of  sorrows  was  that  Divine  Master,  and 


ANG^L    VOICES.  149 


It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away. 


acquainted  with  grief.  And  what  were  the 
instruments,  the  means,  the  ministers  of  that 
very  victory,  —  that  last  victory  ?  The  rage 
of  men,  and  the  fierceness  of  torture  ;  arraign- 
ment before  enemies,  —  mocking,  smiting, 
scourging  ;  the  thorny  crown,  the  bitter  cross, 

the  barred  tomb When  I  stand  in  the 

presence  of  that  high  example,  I  cannot  listen 
to  poor,  unmanly,  unchristian  complainings. 
I  would  not  have  his  disciples  account  too 
much  of  their  griefs. 

Remember, 

Astronomers  have  built  telescopes  which 
can  show  myriads  of  stars  unseen  before  ;  but 
when  a  man  looks  through  a  tear  in  his  own 
eye,  that  is  a  lens  which  opens,  reaches  in  the 
unknown,  and  reveals  orbs  which  no  telescope, 
however  skilfully  constructed,  could  do  ;  nay, 
which  brings  to  view  even  the  throne  of  God, 
and  pierces  that  nebulous  distance  where  are 
those  eternal  verities  in  which  true  life  con- 
sists."' 

Silent  rushes  the  swift  Lord 
Through  ruined  systems  still  restored, 
Broad-sowing,  bleak  and  void  to  bless, 
Plants  with  worlds  the  wilderness, 
Waters  with  tears  of  ancient  sorrow 
Apples  of  Eden  ripe  to-morrow.  *^ 


I50  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Thou  in  faithfulness  hast  afflicted  me. 

Remember, 

Suffering  is  a  part  of  the  Divine  idea.  All 
new  faculties  stand  in  a  double  constitution, 
and  are  just  as  really  susceptible  of  pain  as 
of  pleasure.  We  were  created  so  that  every 
nerve  was  provided  with  this  twofold  nature, 
and  both  of  them  are  divine.  The  world  is 
filled  full  of  dangerous  things,  —  things  which 
can  bruise  and  cut  and  poison,  —  and  no  an- 
gel stands  near  them  to  say,  "  Come  not  here." 
There  is  not  a  step  we  take  but  death  is  there. 
Pain  is  continually  on  the  larboard  or  star- 
board side,  and  life  consists  in  steering  be- 
tween dangers  on  the  one  hand  or  the  other. 
Where  there  is  so  much  sorrow,  there  is  only 
one  way.  It  is  to  think  that  suffering  is  a 
part  of  happiness.  One  who  does  this  takes 
all  trials,  and  heaps  them  up,  and  says,  "  They 
are  no  longer  to  me  what  they  were  before. 
They  are  not  opaque,  they  are  luminous."  ^^ 

How  fresh,  O  Lord,  how  sweet  and  clear 
Are  thy  returns  !  e'en  as  the  flowers  in  spring ; 

To  which,  besides  their  own  demean, 
The  late  past  frosts  tributes  of  pleasure  bring. 
Grief  melts  away 
Like  snow  in  May, 
As  if  there  were  no  such  cold  thing.'* 

Blessed  is  the  man  who,  when  the  tempest 


ANGEL    VOICES.  151 

I  will  allure  her  and  bring  her  into  the  wilderness. 

has  spent  its  fury,  recognizes  his  Father's 
voice  in  its  under-tone,  and  bares  his  head 
and  bows  his  knee,  as  EHjah  did.     To  such 

it  seems  as  if  God  had  said  :  "  In  the 

still  sunshine  and  ordinary  ways  of  life  you 
cannot  meet  me,  but  like  Job  in  the  desolation 
of  the  tempest  you  shall  see  My  Form  and 
hear  My  Voice,  and  know  that  your  Redeemer 
liveth." 

If  ever  failure  seemed  to  rest  on  a  noble  life, 
it  was  when  the  Son  of  Man,  deserted  by  his 
friends,  heard  the  cry  which  proclaimed  that 
the  Pharisees  had  successfully  drawn  the  net 
round  their  Divine  Victim.  Yet  from  that 
very  hour  of  defeat  and  death  there  went 
forth  the  world's  life,  —  from  that  very  mo- 
ment of  apparent  failure  there  proceeded 
forth  into  the  ages  the  spirit  of  the  conquering 
Cross,  Surely  if  the  Cross  says  anything,  it 
says  that  apparent  defeat  is  real  victory,  and 
that  there  is  a  heaven  for  those  who  have 
iwbly  and  truly  failed  on  earth."' 

Remember  the  words  of  Robert  Southwell 
when  awaiting  martyrdom.  We  have  sung 
the  canticles  of  the  Lord  in  a  strange  land, 
and  in  this  desert  we  have  sucked  honey  from 
the  rock,  and  oil  from  the  hard  stone  ;  but 


152  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Be  strong,  and  He  shall  comfort  thine  heart. 

"  we  now  sow  the  seed  with  tears,  that  others 
hereafter  may  with  joy  carry  in  the  sheaves 
to  the  heavenly  granaries." 

0  Time  !  O  Death  !  I  clasp  you  in  my  arms, 
For  I  can  soothe  an  infinite  cold  sorrow, 
And  gaze  contented  on  your  icy  charms, 

And  that  wild  snow-pile,  which  we  call  to-morrow  ; 
Sweep  on,  O  soft  and  azure-lidded  sky, 
Earth's  waters  to  your  gentle  gaze  reply. 

1  am  not  earth-bom,  though  I  here  delay ; 
Hope's  child,  I  summon  infiniter  powers, 
And  laugh  to  see  the  mild  and  sunny  day 
Smile  on  the  shrunk  and  thin  autumnal  hours ; 
I  laugh,  for  hope  hath  happy  place  with  me, 
If  my  bark  sinks,  't  is  to  another  sea.'^^ 

Reatestber, 

Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom, 
neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines  ;  the  labor 
of  the  olive  shall  fail,  and  the  fields  shall 
yield  no  meat  ;  the  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from 
the  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no  herd  in  the 
stalls  ;  yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  I  will 
joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation. — Habakkuk. 

Rkmemfser, 

God  sees  sin  not  in  its  consequences,  but  in 
itself;  a  thing  infinitely  evil,  even  if  the  con- 
sequences were  happiness  to  the  guilty  instead 
of  misery.     So  sorrow,  according  to  God,  is 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things. 


to  see  sin  as  God  sees  it.  The  grief  of  Peter 
was  as  bitter  as  that  of  Judas.  He  went  out 
and  wept  bitterly ;  how  bitterly  none  can  tell 
but  they  who  have  learned  to  look  on  sin  as 
God  does.  But  in  Peter's  grief  there  was  an 
element  of  hope ;  and  that  sprung  precisely 
from  this, —  that  he  saw  God  in  it  all.  De- 
spair of  self  did  not  lead  to  despair  of  God. 

I  believe  the  feeling  of  true  penitence 

would  express  itself  in  such  words  as  these  : 
—  there  is  a  righteousness,  though  I  have  not 
attained  it.  There  is  a  purity  and  a  love  and 
a  beauty,  though  my  life  exhibits  little  of  it. 
In  that  I  can  rejoice.  Of  that  I  can  feel  the 
surpassing  loveliness.  My  doings  .-'  They  are 
worthless;  I  cannot  endure  to  think  of  them. 
I  am  not  thinking  of  them.  I  have  something 
else  to  think  of.  There,  There ;  in  that  Life 
I  see  it.  And  so  the  Christian  —  gazing,  not 
on  what  he  is,  but  on  what  he  desires  to  be  — 
dares  in  penitence  to  say.  That  righteousness 
is  mine ;  dares,  even  when  the  recollection  of 
his  sin  is  most  vivid  and  most  poignant,  to 
say,  with  Peter,  thinking  less  of  himself  than 
of  God,  and  sorrowing  as  it  were  with  God, 
"  Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things,  thou  know- 
est that  I  love  thee."' 


154  ANGEL    VOICES. 

And  Enoch  walked  with  God  :  and  he  was  not,  for  God  took  him. 

Remember, 

To  be  content  with  death  may  be  better 
than  to  desire  it ;  a  miserable  life  may  make 
us  wish  for  death,  but  a  virtuous  one  to  rest 
in  it :  which  is  the  advantage  of  those  resolved 
Christians,  who,  looking  on  death  not  only  as 
the  sting,  but  the  period  and  end  of  sin,  the 
horizon  and  isthmus  between  this  life  and  a 
better,  and  the  death  of  this  world  but  as  a 
nativity  of  another,  do  contentedly  submit 
unto  the  common  necessity,  and  envy  not 
Enoch  or  Elias.'^ 

We  go  to  the  grave  of  a  friend  saying,  "A 
man  is  dead,"  but  the  angels  throng  about 
him,  saying,  A  man  is  born.^^ 

Build  thee  more  stately  mansions,  O  my  soul, 

As  the  swift  seasons  roll ! 

Leave  thy  low-vaulted  past ! 
Let  each  new  temple,  nobler  than  the  last, 
Shut  thee  from  heaven  with  a  dome  more  vast. 

Till  thou  at  length  art  free. 
Leaving  thine  out-grown  shell  by  life's  unresting  sea. '" 

God's  saints  are  shining  lights  :  who  stays 

Here  long  must  passe 
O're  dark  hills,  swift  streams,  and  steep  ways 

As  smooth  as  glasse  : 

But  these  all  night. 

Like  candles,  shed 

Their  beams,  and  light 

Us  into  bed.^ 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 55 


Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful. 


Remember, 

Our  sweetest  experiences  of  afifection  are 
meant  to  be  suggestions  of  that  realm  which 
is  the  home  of  the  heart.^** 

Remember, 
^  There  are  questions  which  nothing  can  an- 
swer but  God's  love  ;  which  nothing  can  meet 
but  God's  promise ;  which  nothing  can  calm 
but  a  perfect  trust  in  his  goodness.  Speak  to 
the  void  darkness  of  affliction,  "  the  first  dark 
day  of  nothingness "  after  trouble  has  come  ; 
speak  to  life  through  all  its  stages  and  for- 
tunes, from  oftentimes  suffering  infancy  to 
trembling  age, none  of  these  can  an- 
swer us There  is  shadow  and  mystery 

upon  all  the  creation  till  we  see  God  in  it ; 
there  is  trouble  and  fear  till  we  see  God's  love 
in  it  "^ 

How  my  cup  o'erlooks  her  brims  ! 

So,  even  so  still  may  I  move 

By  the  line  of  thy  dear  love  ; 

Still  may  thy  sweet  mercy  spread 

A  shady  arm  above  my  head, 

About  my  paths  ;  so  shall  I  find 

The  fair  centre  of  my  mind. 

Thy  temple,  and  those  lovely  walls 

Bright  ever  with  a  beam  that  falls 

Fresh  from  the  pure  glance  of  Thine  eye. 

Lighting  to  Eternity.^'* 


156  AN'GEL    VOICES. 

Into  thy  hand  I  commit  my  spirit. 

Remember, 

In  the  hour  of  death,  faith  will  be  our  only 
availing  possession.  How  many  persons  mis- 
take, as  though  innocent  recollections  would 
be  support  enough !  And  how  many  Phari- 
sees imagine  the  blessedness  of  looking  back 
from  their  death-beds  upon  years  of  intense 
hatred,  borne  unremittingly  against  what  they 
call  the  world,  namely,  their  fellow-men  and 
their  pleasures !  But  faith  is  not  formed  out 
of  hatred,  not  even  of  Satan ;  it  is  a  nobler 
fruit ;  it  springs  out  of  love,  —  that  love  of  God 
which  is  so  strong  as  to  believe  all  things,  and, 
concerning  the  very  worst,  to  hope  all  things  ; 
it  is  "  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory "  ;  it  is 
the  essence  of  many  prayers  ;  it  is  the  state  of 
a  pure  heart.  At  death  all  other  possessions 
fail  us.  Interest  in  the  surrounding  world 
declines  ;  reflection  is  enfeebled  ;  and  sensa- 
tion fails.  The  light  of  genius  is  sometimes 
so  resplendent  as  to  make  a  man  walk  through 
life,  amid  glory  and  acclamation  ;  but  it  burns 
very  dimly  and  low  when  carried  into  "  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death."  But  faith  is 
like  the  evening  star,  shining  into  our  souls 
the  more  brightly,  the  deeper  is  the  night  of 
death  in  which  they  sink.** 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 57 


It  is  I :  be  not  afraid. 


I  placed  thee  in  a  land  of  light, 
Where  the  Gospel  round  thee  shone  : 
Where  is  the  heavenly-mindedness 
I  find  in  all  mine  own  ? 
And  last  I  "  sent  thee  chastisement," 
That  thou  might'st  be  my  son  : 
Where  is  the  trusting  faith  which  says, 
"  Father  !  thy  will  be  done  "  ?  ^"^ 

In  death  remember  Christ,  —  how,  inter- 
penetrated by  his  spirit,  thy  soul  was  born 
again,  and,  blessed  token  thereof,  calamity 
itself  counted  all  joy,  —  how  through  him  the 
forms  and  the  vicissitudes  of  nature  have,  in 
thy  sight,  grown  significant  of  a  holier  philos- 
ophy than  that  anciently  so  called,  —  how, 
upon  this  earth,  thou  hast  been  shown  the 
Father,  and,  amid  earth's  disorders  and  dark- 
ness, it  hath  sufficed  thee Life,  as  far 

as  it  has  been  life,  hath  it  not  been  through 
Christ  ?  and  death,  is  not  that  the  sure  com- 
ing of  Christ?^ 

A  blissful  vision  through  the  night 
Would  all  my  happy  senses  sway. 

Of  the  Good  Shepherd  on  the  height, 
Or  climbing  up  the  stony  way, 

Holding  our  little  lamb  asleep, 

And  like  the  burden  of  the  sea 
Sounded  that  voice  along  the  deep, 

Saying,  "Arise  and  follow  me.""' 


158  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 

Remember 

Death  meets  us  everywhere,  and  is  procured 
by  every  instrument,  and  in  all  chances,  and 
enters  in  at  many  doors,  by  violence  and 
secret  influence,  by  the  aspect  of  a  star  and 
the  stink  of  a  mist,  by  the  emissions  of  a 
cloud  and  the  melting  of  a  vapor,  by  the  fall 
of  a  chariot  and  the  stumbling  at  a  stone,  by 
a  full  meal  or  an  empty  stomach,  by  watching 
at  the  wine  or  by  watching  at  prayers,  by  the 
sun  or  the  moon,  by. a  heat  or  a  cold,  by  sleep- 
less nights  or  sleeping  days,  by  water  frozen 
into  the  hardness  and  sharpness  of  a  dagger, 
or  water  thawed  into  the  floods  of  a  river,  by 
a  hair  or  a  raisin,  by  violent  motion  or  sit- 
ting still,  by  severity  or  dissolution,  by  God's 
mercy  or  God's  anger. 

The  chains  that  confine  us  to  this  condition 
are  strong  as'  destiny  and  immutable  as  the 
eternal  laws  of  God.** 

To  wandering  men  how  dear  the  sight 
Of  a  cold,  tranquil  autumn  night, 

In  its  majestic,  deep  repose. 

Thus  shall  their  genius  be 

Not  buried  in  high  snows, 
Tliough  of  as  mute  tranquillity. 

An  anxious  life  they  will  not  pass, 
Nor,  as  the  shadow  on  the  grass. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  159 

I  will  fear  no  evil. 

Leave  no  impression  there  to  stay  : 
To  them  all  things  are  thought ; 
The  blushing  morn's  decay, 

Our  death,  our  life,  by  this  is  taught 

0  find  in  every  haze  that  shines 
A  brief  appearance  without  lines, 
A  single  word,  —  no  finite  joy  ; 

For  present  is  a  Power 
Which  we  may  not  annoy, 
Yet  love  him  stronger  every  hour. 

1  would  not  put  this  sense  from  me. 
If  I  could  some  great  sovereign  be ; 
Yet  will  not  task  a  fellow-man 

To  feel  the  same  glad  sense  ; 
For  no  one  living  can 
Feel,  save  his  given  influence."^ 

Remember  the  words  of  Richter : 

If  ever  my  heart  were  so  unhappy  and  with- 
ered, that  all  the  feelings  which  assert  the 
existence  of  God  should  be  destroyed,  I 
would  terrify  myself  with  this  my  essay,  and 
it  would  heal   me,  and  give  me  my  feelings 

back  again One  summer  evening  I  lay 

upon   a   mountain  in   the  sunshine,  and    fell 

asleep I  saw  one  corpse  alone,  which 

had  just  been  buried  in  the  church,  lying  still 
upon  its  pillow,  and  its  breast  heaved  not, 
while  upon  its  smiling  countenance  lay  a 
happy  dream ;  but  on  the  entrance  of  one  of 


l6o  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Under  the  cloud  and  through  the  sea. 

the  living  shadows  he  awoke,  and  smiled  no 
more.  He  opened  his  closed  eyes  with  a 
painful  effort,  but  within  there  was  no  eye ; 
and  in  the  sleeping  bosom,  instead  of  a  heart, 

there  was  a  wound A  lofty,  noble  form, 

having  the  expression  of  a  never-ending  sor- 
row, now  sank  down  from  above  upon  the 
altar,  and  all  the  dead  exclaimed,  "  Christ !  is 
there  no  God  ? "  And  he  answered,  "  There 
is  none ! "  The  whole  shadow  of  each  dead 
one,  and  not  the  breast  alone,  now  trembled, 
and   one   after   another   was   severed   by  the 

trembling Then  there  arose  and  came 

into  the  temple  —  a  terrible  sight  for  the 
heart !  —  the  dead  children  who  had  awakened 
in  the  churchyard,  and  they  cast  themselves 
before  the  lofty  form  upon  the  altar,  and  said, 
"Jesus!  have  we  no  Father?"  And  he  an- 
swered with  streaming  eyes,  "We  are  all 
orphans,  I  and  you  :  we  are  without  a  Fa- 
ther."   

Here  Christ  looked  towards  the  earth  and 

said  :  "  Alas  !  I  too  was  once  like  you  : 

too  happy  dwellers  of  earth,  ye  still  believe  in 

him ! When    the   man    of  sorrows 

stretches  his  sore-wounded  back  upon  the 
earth  to  slumber  towards  a  lovelier  morning. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  l6l 

The  righteous  perisheth,  and  no  man  layeth  it  to  heart. 

full  of  truth,  full  of  virtue  and  of  joy,  behold 
he  wakes  in  the  tempestuous  chaos,  in  the 
everlasting  midnight,  and  no  morning  cometh, 
and  no  healing  hand,  and  no  Infinite  Father. 
Mortal  who  art  near  me,  if  thou  still  livest, 
worship  him,  or  thou  hast  lost  him  forever ! " 

And  as  I  fell  down  and  gazed  into  the 
gleaming  fabric  of  worlds,  I  beheld  the  raised 
rings  of  the  giant  serpent  of  eternity,  which 
had  couched  itself  round  the  universe  of 
worlds,  and  the  rings  fell,  and  she  enfolded  the 
universe  doubly.  Then  she  wound  herself  in 
a  thousand  folds  round  Nature,  and  crushed 
the  worlds  together,  and,  grinding  them,  she 
squeezed  the  infinite  temple  into  the  church- 
yard church,  —  and  all  became  narrow,  dark, 
and  fearful,  and  a  bell-hammer  stretched  out 
to  infinity  was  about  to  strike  the  last  hour  of 
Time,  and  split  the  universe  asunder,  when  I 
awoke. 

My  soul  wept  for  joy  that  it  could  again 
worship  God  ;  and  the  joy,  and  the  tears,  and 
the  belief  in  him,  were  the  prayer.  And 
when  I  arose  the  sun  gleamed  deeply  behind 
the  full  purple  ears  of  corn,  and  peacefully 
threw  the  reflection  of  its  evening  blushes  on 
the  little  moon,  which  was  rising  in  the  east 


1 62  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Enoch  walked  with  God. 

without  an  aurora.  And  between  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  a  glad,  fleeting  world  stretched 
out  its  short  wings  and  lived  like  myself  in  the 
presence  of  the  Infinite  Father,  and  from  all 
nature  around  us  flowed  sweet,  peaceful  tones, 
as  from  evening  bells.^ 

Rememhiik. 

With  a  Christian,  at  the  end  of  a  grievous 
trial,  and  when  the  soreness  of  it  is  abating, 
there  is  a  strange  and  sublime  experience. 
There  is  the  feeling  of  sorrow,  and  there  is 
that  of  infinite  goodness,  and  the  two  blend 
into  a  consciousness  like  that  of  having  been 
just  about  to  be  spoken  to  by  God.  And  this 
is  not  a  deceptive  feeling,  though  God  is  silent 
towards  us  all  our  lives  ;  for  with  him  a  thou- 
sand years  are  as  one  day ;  and  when  he  will 
justify  himself  to  us,  it  will  not  be  our  fleshly 
impatience  which  he  will  address,  but  the  calm 
estate  of  spirits  everlasting  like  himself** 

Angel  of  Patience  !  sent  to  calm 
Our  feverish  brows  with  cooling  palm  ; 
To  lay  the  storms  of  hope  and  fear, 
And  reconcile  life's  smile  and  tear  ; 
The  throbs  of  wounded  pride  to  still, 
And  make  our  own  our  Father's  will. 

O  thou,  who  moumest  on  thy  way, 
With  longings  for  the  close  of  day. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 63 

The  Lord  is  at  hand. 

He  walks  with  thee,  that  angel  kind, 
And  gently  whispers  :  "Be  resigned, 
Bear  up,  bear  on ;  the  end  shall  tell, 
The  dear  Lord  ordereth  all  things  well !  "  ^ 

I  think,  says  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  that  the 
wickedest  people  on  earth  are  those  who  use  a 
force  of  genius  to  make  themselves  selfish  in 
the  noblest  things  ;  keeping  themselves  aloof 
from  the  vulgar  and  the  ignorant  and  the 
unknown  ;  rising  higher  and  higher  in  taste, 
until  they  sit,  ice  upon  ice,  on  the  mountain- 
top  of  eternal  congelation.  Now,  as  we  as- 
cend the  hills  of  improvement,  those  who  are 
poor  and  needy  are  not  to  hear  our  voices 
chanting  ever  farther  and  farther  in  the  dis- 
tance. No !  by  our  singing  we  are  to  win 
others  upward  to  the  same  heights  to  which 
we  aspire. 

We  ask  for  peace,  O  Lord  ! 

Thy  children  ask  thy  peace  ; 
Not  what  the  world  calls  rest. 

That  toil  and  care  should  cease, 
That  through  bright  sunny  hours 

Calm  life  should  fleet  away, 
And  tranquil  night  should  fade 
In  smiling  day,  — 
It  is  not  for  such  peace  that  we  would  pray. 

It  is  thine  own,  O  Lord  ! 
Who  toil  while  others  sleep, 


1 64  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden. 

Who  SOW  with  loving  care 

What  other  hands  shall  reap  ; 
They  lean  on  thee,  entranced, 

In  calm  and  perfect  rest ; 
Give  us  that  peace,  O  Lord  ! 
Divine  and  blest. 
Thou  keepest  for  those  hearts  who  love  thee  best.' 


Remember, 

As  opposed  to  passion,  changefulness,  or 
laborious  exertion,  repose  is  the  especial  and 
separating  characteristic  of  the  eternal  mind 
and  power ;  it  is  the  "  I  am "  of  the  Creator 
opposed  to  the  "I  become"  of  all  creatures; 
it  is  the  sign  alike  of  the  supreme  knowledge 
which  is  incapable  of  surprise,  the  supreme 
power  which  is  incapable  of  labor,  the  su- 
preme volition  which  is  incapable  of  change ; 
it  is  the  stillness  of  the  beams  of  the  eternal 
chambers  laid  upon  the  variable  waters  of 
ministering  creatures  ;  and  as  we  see  that  the 
infinity  which  is  a  type  of  the  Divine  nature 
becomes  yet  more  desirable  from  its  peculiar 
address  to  our  prison  hopes,  and  to  the  expec- 
tations of  an  unsatisfied  and  unaccomplished 
existence,  so  the  types  of  this  attribute  of  the 
Deity  seem  to  have  been  rendered  further 
attractive  to  mortal  instinct  through  the  inflic- 
tion upon  the  fallen  creature  of  a  curse  neces- 


ANGEL    VOICES.  165 


I  will  give  you  rest. 


sitating  a  labor  once  unnatural  and  still  most 
painful,  so  that  the  desire  of  rest  planted  in 
the  heart  is  no  sensual  nor  unworthy  one,  but 
a  longing  for  renovation,  and  for  escape  from 
a  state  whose  every  phase  is  mere  preparation 
for  another  equally  transitory,  to  one  in  which 
permanence  shall  have  become  possible 
through  perfection.  Hence  the  great  call  of 
Christ  to  men,  that  call  on  which  Saint  Au- 
gustine fixed  essential  expression  of  Christian 
hope,  is  accompanied  by  the  promise  of  rest, 
and  the  death  bequest  of  Christ  to  men  is 
peace. 

As  unity  demanded  for  its  expression  what 
at  first  might  have  seemed  its  opposite,  vari- 
ety, so  repose  demands  for  its  expression 
the  implied  capability  of  its  opposite,  energy. 
It  is  the  most  unfailing  test  of  beauty  :  noth- 
ing can  be  ignoble  that  possesses  it,  nothing 
right  that  has  it  not.*' 

He  that  lacks  time  to  moum  lacks  time  to  mend  ; 
Eternity  mourns  that     'T  is  an  ill  cure 
For  life's  worst  ills,  to  have  no  time  to  feel  them. 
Where  sorrow  is  held  intrusive,  and  turned  out, 
There  wisdom  will  not  enter,  nor  true  power, 
Nor  aught  that  dignifies  humanity.** 

Rkmembek. 

Life  is  short.     "  Man  has  two  minutes  and 


1 66  ANGEL    VOICES. 

■ — • " ~~\ 

A  time  for  every  purpose,  — a  time  to  die. 

a  half  to  live, — one  to  smile,  one  to  sigh,  and 
a  half  to  love ;  for  in  the  middle  of  this  he 
dies !  But  the  grave  is  not  deep :  it  is  the 
shining  tread  of  an  angel  that  seeks  us. 
When  the  unknown  hand  throws  the  fatal 
dart  at  the  end  of  man,  then  boweth  he  his 
head,  and  the  dart  only  lifts  the  crown  of 
thorns  from  his  wounds."" 

The  time  of  life  is  short ; 
To  spend  that  shortness  basely  were  too  long, 
If  Life  did  ride  upon  a  dial's  point, 
Still  ending  at  the  arrival  of  an  hour.** 

"  Leaves  have  their  time  to  fall. 
And  flowers  to  wther  at  the  north-wind's  breath, 

And  stars  to  set :  but  all. 
Thou  hast  all  seasons  for  thine  own,  O  Deatli !  " 

Remember, 

It  is  not  well  for  us  to  live  in  the  con- 
stant atmosphere  and  presence  of  death  ;  that 
would  unfit  us  for  life ;  but  it  is  well  for  us, 
now  and  then,  to  talk  with  death  as  friend 
talketh  with  friend,  and  to  bathe  in  the 
strange  seas,  and  to  anticipate  the  experiences 

of  that  land  to  which  it  will  lead  us 

Our  spiritual  life  decays  in  the  confinement 
and  darkness  of  the  world ;  and  that  it  may 
gain  new  vigor,  our  thoughts  must  now  and 


ANGEL    VOICES.  167 


Thy  will  be  done. 


then  be  unfurled  and  held  high,  and  shaken  in 
the  air  of  heaven.'" 

Remember, 

The  body  is  a  more  expert  dialectician  than 
the  soul,  and  buffets  it,  even  to  bewilderment, 
with  the  empty  bladders  of  logic ;  but  the 
soul  can  retire  from  the  dust  and  turmoil  of 
such  conflict,  to  the  high  tower  of  instinctive 
faith,  and  there,  in  hushed  serenity,  take  com- 
fort of  the  sympathizing  stars.  We  look  at 
death  through  the  cheap  glazed  windows  of 
the  flesh,  and  believe  him  for  the  monster 
which  the  flawed  and  crooked  glass  presents 
him.'^ 

"  Choice  befits  not  our  condition  : 
Acquiescence  is  the  best. " 

Complain  not  that  the  way  is  long  : 
What  road  is  weary  that  leads  there  ? 

But  let  the  angel  take  thy  hand, 
And  lead  thee  up  the  misty  stair  ; 

And  then  with  beating  heart  await 

The  opening  of  the  Golden  Gate. 

Remember. 

A   trustful   heart   strengthens   to   the   last. 

And  to  the  last  we  will  trust With  us 

spring  and  summer  and  autumn  and  winter 
shall  be  the  will  of  God  ;  and  the  will  of  God 


1 68  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Whosoever  is  born  of  God  overcometh  the  world. 

shall  be  the  wisdom  of  the  starry  courses. 
The  vital  nature  of  the  air  about  us  shall  be 
the  will  of  God  ;  and  it  shall  be  the  will  of 
God  that  we  breathe  without  thinking.  And 
to  us  joys  shall  be  the  will  of  God,  and  so 

shall  pains  and  sorrows  be And  no  less 

than  birth,  death  shall  be  His  will ;  and  in  it 
we  will  rejoice  always,  though  sometimes,  per- 
haps, not  without  trembling.** 

Remember, 

There  is  nothing  strictly  immortal  but  im- 
mortality. Whatever  hath  no  beginning,  may 
be  confident  of  no  end  :  which  is  the  peculiar 
of  that  necessary  essence  that  cannot  destroy 
itself,  and  the  highest  strain  of  omnipotency, 
to  be  so  powerfully  constituted  as  not  to  suf- 
fer even  from  the  power  of  itself God, 

who  can  only  destroy  our  souls,  and  hath  as- 
sured our  resurrection,  either  of  our  bodies  or 
names,  hath  directly  promised  no  duration. 
Wherein  there  is  so  much  of  chance  that  the 
boldest  expectants  have  found  unhappy  frus- 
tration, and  to  hold  long  subsistence  seems 
but  a  scope  in  oblivion.  But  man  is  a  noble 
animal,  splendid  in  ashes,  and  pompous  in  the 
grave,  solemnizing  nativities  and  deaths  with 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 69 

Many  that  sleep  in  the  dust  shall  awake. 

equal    lustre,    nor    omitting    ceremonies    of 
bravery  in  the  infancy  of  his  nature.^^ 

So  may  we  our  lives  control, 
Cast  aside  what  we  desire, 
Feeling  that  the  sweeping  soul 
Has  than  earthly  path  a  higher. 

Life  has  bridged  our  destiny, 
Walled  our  woes  within  its  breast. 
Runs  through  us  a  troubled  sea 
Which  perceiveth  here  no  rest. 

Death  shall  sweep  the  works  away. 
Set  our  current  flowing  free. 
Leave  us  no  more  yesterday. 
And  be  the  thing  we  feebly  see.^'^^ 

Remember, 

The  shore  of  the  beautiful  spring  is  steep, 
and  we  swim  on  the  dead  sea  of  life  near  the 
shore,  but  we  the  ephemera  have  no  wings. 
Death,  this  sublime  evening-red  of  our  St. 
Thomas's  day,  this  great  amen  of  our  hope, 
shouted  across  from  yonder  shore,  would  ap- 
pear before  our  low  couch  like  a  beautiful 
crowned  giant,  and  lift  us  up  by  degrees  into 
the  ether,  and  rock  us  there,  were  it  not  we 
are  broken  and  stupefied  ere  thrown  into  his 
gigantic  arms.  It  is  illness  alone  that  takes 
from  death  his  glory  ;  and  the  pinions  of  the 
aspiring  soul  (laden  and  stained  with  blood, 


1/0  ANGEL    VOICES. 

There  shall  be  no  more  death  nor  sorrow. 

tears,  and  clumps  of  earth)  trail  broken  on 
the  ground.  But  death  is  a  flight,  and  no  fall, 
only  then  when  the  hero  throws  himself  upon 
one  single  fatal  wound,  and  man  stands  like  a 
spring-world  full  of  new  blossoms  and  old 
fruit,  and  the  earth  passes  by  him  like  a 
comet.** 

"  So  may  we  live,  that  every  hour 
May  die  as  dies  the  natural  flower, 
A  self-reviving  thing  of  power ; 
That  every  thought  and  every  deed 
May  hold  within  itself  the  seed 
Of  future  good  and  future  meed. " 

0  Death  !  thou  art  the  palace  of  our  hopes, 
The  storehouse  of  our  joys,  great  labor's  end. 
Thou  art  the  bronzed  key  which  swiftly  opes 
The  coffers  of  the  past : 

Look  not  upon  us  till  we  chasten  pride. 
And  preparation  make  for  thy  high  home  ; 

1  come,  I  come,  think  not  I  turn  away  ! 
Fold  round  me  thy  gray  robe  !  I  stand  to  feel 
The  setting  of  my  last  frail  earthly  day  ; 

I  will  not  pluck  it  off,  but  calmly  kneel : 
For  I  am  great  as  thou  art,  though  not  thou. 
And  thought  as  with  thee  dwells  upon  my  brow.*^* 

Remember. 

Pious  spirits,  who  passed  their  days  in  rap- 
tures of  futurity,  made  little  more  of  this 
world  than  the  world  that  was  before  it,  while 
they  lay  obscure  in  the  chaos  of  pre-ordina- 


ANGEL    VOICES.  iji 


The  sting  of  death  is  sin. 


tion  and  night  of  their  fore-beings.  And  if 
any  have  been  so  happy  as  truly  to  under- 
stand Christian  annihilation,  ectasis,  exolu- 
tion,  liquefaction,  transformation,  the  kiss  of 
the  spouse,  gustation  of  God,  and  ingression 
into  the  Divine  shadow,  they  have  already  had 
a  handsome  anticipation  of  heaven  ;  the  glory 
of  the  world  is  surely  over  and  the  earth  in 
ashes  unto  them.^* 

O  fair  !  O  fortunate  !  O  rich  !  O  dear  ! 
O  happy,  and  thrice  happy  she, 
Dear  silver-breasted  dove, 
Whoe'er  she  be, 
Whose  early  love, 
With  winged  vows. 
Makes  haste  to  meet  her  morning  spouse, 
And  close  with  his  immortal  kisses. ^'^^ 

Life's  harvest  reap,  like  the  wheat's  fruitful 
ear.' 

Joy,  most  of  all,  loves  to  see  Death  at  her 
festive  board  ;  for  he  is  himself  a  joy,  and  the 
last  rapture  of  earth.  Only  the  vulgar  can 
confound  the  heavenward  soaring  flight  of  hu- 
manity into  the  far  land  of  the  spring,  with 
the  mock  funeral  phenomena  on  the  earth  ;  in 
the  same  manner  as  they  take  the  hooting  of 


172  ANGEL    VOICES. 

O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory? 

owls,  on  their  departure  for  warmer  climes,  for 
the  rattling  of  ghosts.'^ 

As  the  tree 
Stands  in  the  sun,  and  shadows  all  beneath, 
So,  in  the  light  of  great  Eternity, 
Life  eminent  creates  the  shade  of  death  ; 
The  shadow  passeth  when  the  tree  shall  fall. 
But  life  shall  reign  forever  over  all.  * 

He  gave  her  therewith  a  sure  token  that  he 
was  a  true  messenger,  and  was  come  to  bid 
her  make  haste  to  be  gone.  The  token  was 
an  arrow,  sharpened  with  love,  let  easily  into 
her  heart ;  —  so  Christiana  knew  that  her  time 
was  come. 

We  grieve  not  for  those  going. 
Their  home  and  ours  to  find ; 
For  us  our  tears  are  flowing, 
'  For  us  who  stay  behind. 

Not  those  who  're  havened  yonder. 
Where  rest  and  plenty  bless  ; 
But  we  mourn  those  who  wander 
Still  in  the  wilderness.^* 


RESURRECTION. 


"  We  awake  and  remember  and  understand." 

Ich  sag  'es  jedem  dass  er  lebt 
Und  auferstanden  ist 
Dass  er  im  unserer  Mitte  schwebt 
Und  ewig  bei  uns  ist  —  Noz'alis. 

He  pleased  God,  and  was  beloved  of  him  : 
so  that,  whereas  he  lived  among  sinners,  he 
translated  him. —  Wisdom  of  Solomo7i,  iv.  lo. 

Unto  her  is  Paradise  opened.  —  Esdras. 


Remember  the  words  of  St.  Augustine  :  — 

And  there,  in  Abraham's  bosom,  whatever  it 
be  which  that  bosom  signifies,  lives  my  sweet 
friend.  For  what  other  place  is  there  for  such 
a  soul } 

O,  Bearer  of  the  key 
That  shuts  and  opens  Avith  a  sound  so  sweet 
Its  turning  in  the  wards  is  melody, 
All  things  we  move  among  are  incomplete 
And  vain  until  we  fashion  them  in  Thee  ! 


174  ANGEL    VOICES. 

He  is  not  here,  he  is  risen. 

Rememukk. 

Resurrection  is  not  one  of  those  questions 
on  which  you  can  afford  to  wait ;  it  is  the 
question  of  life  and  death.     There  are  times 

when  it  does  not  weigh  heavily But  at 

last  a  time  comes  when  we  feel  it  will  be  all 
over  soon,  —  that  much  of  our  time  is  gone, 
and  the  rest  swiftly  going.  And  let  a  man 
be  as  frivolous  as  he  will  at  heart,  it  is  a  ques- 
tion too  solemn  to  be  set  aside,. —  whether  he 
is  going  down  into  extinction  and  the  blank 

of  everlasting  silence,  or  not Whether 

that  thrilling,  loving,  thinking  something  that 
he  calls  himself  has  indeed  within  it  an  inde- 
structible existence,  which  shall  still  be  con- 
scious when  everything  else  shall  have  rushed 
into  endless  wreck.  Oh  !  in  the  awful  earnest- 
ness of  a  question  such  as  that,  a  peradventure 
and  a  speculation  will  not  do :  we  must  have 
proof  The  honest  doubt  of  Thomas  craves  a 
sign  as  much  as  the  cold  doubt  of  the  Sad- 
ducee.  And  a  sign  shall  be  mercifully  given 
to  the  doubt  of  love  which  is  refused  to  the 
doubt  of  indifference. 

The  Bible  tells  us  of  two  kinds  of  proof  of 
a  Resurrection.  The  first  is  the  evidence  of 
the    senses :     "  Thomas,    because    thou    hast 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


'/> 


The  dead  are  taised  up. 


seen  me,  thou  hast  believed."  The  other  is 
the  evidence  of  the  spirit :  "  Blessed  are  they 
that  have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed." 

The  feeling  which  arose  in  the  mind  of 
Thomas,  Christ  pronounced  to  be  faith : 
"Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen,  thou  hast 

believed." It  matters  not  liow  faith 

comes,  —  whether  God  has  many  ways  of 
bringing  different  characters  thitherward  ;  but 
that  blessed  thing  which  the  Bible  calls  faith 
is  a  state  of  the  soul,  in  which  the  things  of 
God  become  glorious  certainties. 

There  are  men  in  whom  the  resurrection 
begun  makes  the  resurrection  credible.  In 
them  the  spirit  of  the  risen  Saviour  works 
already,  and  they  have  mounted  with  him 
from  the  grave.  They  have  risen  out  of  the 
darkness  of  doubt,  and  are  expatiating  in  the 
brightness  and  sunshine  of  a  day  in  which 
God  is  ever  light."' 

Hear  what  God,  the  Lord,  hath  spoken  : 

O  my  people,  faint  and  few, 
Comfortless,  afflicted,  broken. 

Fair  abodes  I  build  for  you  ; 
Scenes  of  heart-felt  tribulation 

Shall  no  more  perplex  your  ways  ; 
You  shall  name  your  walls  Sal\-ation, 

And  your  gates  shall  all  be  Praise.  ^"^ 


1/6  ANGEL    VOICES. 

With  what  body  do  they  come. 

Remember, 

I  have  drunk  at  many  a  fountain,  but 
thirst  came  again ;  I  have  fed  at  many  a 
bounteous  table,  but  hunger  returned  ;  I  have 
seen  many  bright  and  lovely  things,  but  while 
I  gazed,  their  lustre  faded.  There  is  nothing 
here  that  can  give  me  rest ;  but  when  I  be- 
hold thee,  O  God,  I  shall  be  satisfied!'" 

The  golden  palace  of  my  God 
Towering  above  the  clouds  I  see  ; 
Beyond  the  cherub's  bright  abode, 
Higher  than  angels*  thoughts  can  be. 
How  can  I  in  those  courts  appear, 
Without  a  wedding -garment  on  ? 
Conduct  me,  thou  Life-giver,  there. 
Conduct  me  to  thy  glorious  throne  ! 
And  clothe  me  with  thy  robes  of  light, 
And  lead  me  through  sin's  darksome  night. 
My  Saviour  and  my  God.*°* 

Remember, 

Though  this  poor  instrument,  the  human 
body,  may  be  broken,  the  dial-plate  effaced, 
and  though  the  hidden  artist  can  make  no 
more  signs,  he  may  be  rich  as  ever  in  the 
things  to  be  signified.  Fever  may  fire  the 
pulses  of  the  body  ;  but  wisdom  and  sanctity 
cannot  sicken,  be  inflamed,  and  die.  This 
would  be  to  set  the  cross  above  the  Cruci- 
fied.*' 


ANGEL    VOICES.  177 


That  which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die. 

One  by  one,  we  miss  the  voices  which  we  loved  so  well  to 

hear, 
One  by  one,  the  kindly  faces  in  the  shadow  disappear. 

One  whose  feet  the  thorns  have  wounded  passed  that  barrier, 

and  came  back 
With  a  glory  on  his  footsteps  lighting  yet  the  dreary  track. 
Boldly  enter  where  he  entered.     All  that  seems  but  darkness 

here, 
When  thou  once  hast  passed  beyond  it,  haply  shall  be  crystal 

clear.  *^ 

Remember, 

To  subsist  in  lasting  monuments,  to  live  in 
their  productions,  to  exist  in  their  names  and 
predicament  of  chimeras,  was  large  satisfac- 
tion unto  old  expectations,  and  made  one  part 
of  their  Elysium.  But  all  this  is  nothing  in 
the  metaphysics  of  true  belief  To  live  indeed, 
is  to  be  again  ourselves,  which  being  not  only 
a  hope  but  an  evidence  in  noble  believers,  't  is 
all  one  to  lie  in  St.  Innocent's  Churchyard  as 
in  the  sands  of  Egypt,  ready  to  be  anything, 
in  the  ecstasy  of  being  ever,  and  as  content 
with  six  feet  as  the  moles  of  Adrianus.'^ 

We  saw  Thee  in  thy  balmy  rest. 
Young  dawn  of  our  eternal  day, 
We  saw  thine  eyes  break  from  the  East, 
And  chase  the  trembling  shades  away  : 
W^e  saw  Thee  and  we  blest  the  sight. 
We  saw  Thee  by  thine  own  sweet  light.™ 


178  ANGEL    VOICES. 

The  glory  of  the  celestial. 

Remembek, 

The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God  ; 

but  if  obedience  were  entire  and  love  were 
perfect,    then    would    the    revelation    of    the 

Spirit  to  the  soul  of  men  be  perfect  too  ; 

every  sight  would  be  resplendent  with  beauty, 
and  every  sound  would  echo  harmony  ;  things 
common  would  become  transfigured,  as  when 
the  ecstatic  state  of  the  inward  soul  reflected 
a  radiant  cloud  from  the  frame  of  Christ. 
The  human  would  become  Divine,  —  life,  even 
the  meanest,  noble.  In  the  hue  of  every  vio- 
let there  would  be  a  glimpse  of  Divine  affec- 
tion and  a  dream  of  heaven.  The  forest 
would  blaze  with  Deity,  as  it  did  to  the  eye 
of  Moses.  The  creations  of  genius  would 
breathe  less  of  earth  and  more  of  heaven. 
Human  love  itself  would  burn  with  a  clearer 
and  intenser  flame,  rising  from  the  altar  of 
self-sacrifice. 

These  are  "the  things  which  God  hath  pre- 
pared for  them  that  love  him."  Compared 
with  these,  what  are  loveliness,  —  the  eloquent 
utterances  of  men,  —  the  conceptions  of  the 
heart  of  Genius }  What  are  they  all  to  the 
serene  stillness  of  a  spirit  lost  in  Love,  —  the 
full,   deep  rapture  of   a  soul    into  which  the 


ANGEL    VOICES.  179 

It  is  raised  in  power. 

Spirit   of  God  is  pouring  itself  in  a  mighty 
tide  of  revelation  ? "' 

Let  them  immortal  wake 
Among  the  breathless  flowers  of  Paradise, 
Where  angel-songs  of  welcome  with  surprise 

This  their  last  sleep  may  break, 
And  to  celestial  joy  their  kindred  souls  invite.^-'* 

Remem^ek, 

The  day  of  our  decease  will  be  that  of  our 
coming  of  age  ;  and  with  our  last  breath  we 
shall  become  free  of  the  universe.  And  in 
some  region  of  infinity,  and  from  among  its 
splendors,  this  earth  will  be  looked  back  on 
Hke  a  lowly  home,  and  this  life  of  ours  be 
remembered  hke  a  short  apprenticeship  to 
Duty.*" 

Rememher, 

This  is  the  prerogative  of  noble  natures,  ■ — 
that  their  departure  to  higher  regions  exer- 
cises a  no  less  blessed  influence  than  did  their 
abode  on  earth ;  that  they  lighten  us  from 
above  like  stars,  by  which  to  steer  our  course, 
often  interrupted  by  storms.' 

Deep,  deep  are  loving  eyes. 
Flowed  with  naphtha  fiery  sweet ; 
And  the  point  is  paradise 
Where  their  glances  meet ; 


l80  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Be  ye  therefore  perfect. 

Their  reach  shall  yet  be  more  profound, 
And  a  vision  without  bound  ; 


Higher  far, 

Upward  unto  the  pure  realm. 

Over  sun  and  star, 

Over  the  flickering  Daemon  film. 

Thou  must  mount  for  love  ; 


Where  good  and  ill. 
And  joy  and  moan. 
Melt  into  one. 


Pray  for  a  beam 

Out  of  that  sphere, 

Thee  to  guide  and  to  redeem.** 

REMEMBEh'. 

Three  months'  sunshine  and  rain  have  fos- 
tered out  of  dead  earth  all  yonder  beauty  and 
abundance;  but  rain  and  sunshine, — what 
are  they  as  agents,  compared  with  holy  influ- 
ences like  those  which  the  Father  Almighty 
can  exert  upon  men's  souls  !  Oh !  there  are 
persons  whom  we  have  known,  whose  spirits, 
divested  of  the  numbing  investiture  of  the 
flesh,  they  in  God,  and  God  in  them,  —  con- 
cerning whom  no  magnitude  of  glory  would 
seem  incredible.^ 

O  heavenly  child  of  mortal  birth  ! 

Our  thoughts  of  thee  arise, 
Not  as  a  denizen  of  earth. 

But  inmate  of  the  skies  ; 


ANGEL    VOICES.  i8l 

We  shall  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly. 

To  feel  that  life  renewed  is  thine, 

A  soothing  balm  imparts  ; 
We  quaff  from  out  Faith's  cup  divine, 

And  Sabbath  fills  our  hearts. 

Thou  leanest  where  the  fadeless  wands 

Of  amaranth  bend  o'er  ; 
Thy  white  wings  brush  the  golden  sands 

Of  Heaven's  refulgent  shore. 
Thy  home  is  where  the  psalm  and  song 

Of  angels  choir  abroad  ; 
And  blessed  spirits  all  day  long 

Bask  round  the  throne  of  God. 

ReMI'.MIUJx. 

This,  the  soul's  questioning :  If  the  soul 
lose  this  poor  mansion  of  hers  by  the  sudden 
conflagration  of  disease,  or  by  the  slow  decay 
of  age,  is  she  therefore  houseless  and  shelter- 
less }  If  she  cast  away  this  soiled  and  tat- 
tered garment,  is  she  therefore  naked  .-'  —  A 
child  looks  forward  to  his  new  suit,  and  dons 
it  joyfully  ;  we  cling  to  our  rags  and  foulness. 
Ask  thyself,  why  we  should  not  welcome 
Death  as  one  who  brings  us  tidings  of  the 
finding  of  long-lost  titles  to  a  large  family 
estate,  and  set  out  gladly  to  take  possession, 
though,  it  may  be,  not  without  a  natural  tear 
for  the  humbler  home  we  are  leaving.  Death 
always  means  us  a  kindness,  though  he  has 
often  a  grufl"  way  of  offering  it.     Even  if  the 


1 82  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for, 

soul  never  returns  from  that  chartless  and  un- 
mapped country,  which  I  do  not  beheve,  I 
would  take  this  reason  as  a  good  one." 

Farewell,  brave  relics  of  a  complete  man, 
Look  up  and  see  thy  spirit  made  a  star, 

and,  when  thou  sett'st 

Thy  radiant  forehead  in  the  firmament, 
•  Make  the  vast  crystal  crack  with  thy  receipt. 
Spread  to  a  world  of  fire,  and  the  aged  sky 
Cheer  with  new  sparks  of  old  humanity."* 

'T  is  immortality  to  die  aspiring.™ 

Nothing  ever  led   man  on  to  real  victory 

but  faith Even  in  this  life  he  is  a 

greater  man,  a  man  of  more  elevated  charac- 
ter, who  is  steadily  pursuing  a  plan  that  re- 
quires some  years  to  accomplish,  than  he  who 
is  living  by  the  day.  Look  forward  but  ten 
years,  and  plan  for  it,  live  for  it ;  there  is 
something  of  manhood,  something  of  courage, 
required  to  conquer  the  thousand  things  that 
stand  in  your  way.  And  therefore  it  is,  that 
faith,  and  nothing  but  faith,  gives  victory  in 
death.  It  is  that  elevation  of  character  which 
we  get  from  looking  steadily  and  forever  for- 
ward, till  eternity  becomes  a  real  home  to  us, 
that  enables   us  to  look  down  upon  the  last 


ANGEL    VOICES.  183 


The  evidence  of  things  not  seen. 


struggle,  and  the  funeral,  and  the  grave,  not 
as  the  great  end  of  all,  but  only  as  something 
that  stands  between  us  and  the  end.  We  are 
conquerors  of  death  when  we  are  able  to  look 
beyond  it.'" 

O  Lord !  by  thee  doth  man  live,  and  from 
thee  is  the  life  of  my  spirit ;  therefore  wilt 
thou  recover  me,  and  make  me  to  live  ! 

The  steps  of  faith 
Fall  on  the  seeming  void,  and  find 
The  rock  beneath.' 

Rememrf.r, 

Even  as  God  is  the  strength  of  the  world, 
and  the  pervading  presence  of  its  glorious 
scenery,  and  of  its  plenteousness  in  field  and 
meadows,  valley,  plain,  and  vineyard,  and  in 
stream  and  ocean,  —  so  is  the  idea  of  God  the 
strength  of  the  soul  :  it  is  vast,  quickening, 
congenial,  satisfying  ;  and  under  its  influence 
legions  of  haunting  imaginations,  and  beset- 
ting hosts  of  afflictive  feelings,  are  put  to 
flight,  superseded  in  their  place  by  warmth 
and  gladness  and  freedom.*" 

Blessed  are  they  who  see,  and  yet  believe  not, 
Yea,  blest  are  they  who  look  on  graves,  and  still 
Believe  none  dead  ;  who  see  proud  tyrants  ruling, 
And  yet  believe  not  in  the  strength  of  Evil,  — 


1 84  ANGEL    VOICES. 

We  shall  all  be  changed. 

Blessed  are  they  who  see  the  wandering  poor, 
And  yet  believe  not  that  their  God  forsakes  them  ; 
Who  see  the  bUnd  worm  creeping,  yet  believe  not 
That  even  that  is  left  without  a  path.^^ 


Remember. 

Thou  mourner  for  the  dead !  often  dost 
thou  go  sorrowing  after  thy  virtuous  friend 
into  the  churchyard  ;  but  he  is  not  there,  for 
he  is  risen,  —  a  spirit  now  among  the  just 
made  perfect.  In  his  coffin  there  are  only 
grave-clothes  and  a  decaying  body,  which, 
indeed,  when  hving,  was  never  more  than  a 
garment  of  earth.  Be  thou  tranquil,  since,  in 
place  of  a  worn-out  body,  thy  lost  companion 
is  now  clothed  upon  with  immortality !,.... 
Look  on  the  newly-made  graves  and  see  on 
them  how  the  flowers  spring  more  luxuriantly 
than  before.  So  ought  thy  hopes  to  rise  up 
the  more  strongly  out  of  sorrow ;  and  not 
only  to  spring  up  on  high,  but  also  to  blossom 
there,  and  ripen  those  consolatory  fruits  which 
drop  down  into  the  soul,  like  manna  from 
heaven.** 

Well  done  of  God  to  halve  the  lot, 

And  give  her  all  the  sweetness  ; 
To  us,  the  empty  room  and  cot ; 

To  her,  the  heaven's  completeness. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  185 

The  living,  the  living,  he  shall  praise  thee. 

To  US  the  grave  ;  to  her  the  rows 

The  mystic  palm-trees  spring  in  ; 
To  us,  the  silence  in  the  house  ; 

To  her,  the  choral  singing  ! 

Grow  fast  in  heaven,  sweet  Lily  clipped, 
,  In  love  more  calm  than  this  is  ; 

And  may  the  angels,  dewy  lipped. 
Remind  thee  of  our  kisses  ! 

While  none  shall  tell  thee  of  our  tears, 

These  human  tears  now  falling. 
Till,  after  a  few  patient  years. 

One  home  shall  take  us  all  in.^-^ 

There  is  an  inner /^m;Y-contained  spirit-world, 
which  breaks  through  the  dark  clouds  of  the 
body-world  as  a  warm  sun.  I  mean  the  inner 
universe  of  virtue,  beauty,  and  truth  ;  three 
soul-worlds  and  heavens,  which  are  neither 
parts  nor  shoots  nor   cuttings  nor  copies  of 

the  outer  one This  inner  universe,  which 

is  still  more  glorious  and  admirable  than  the 
outer,  needs  another  heaven  than  the  one 
above  us,  and  a  higher  world  than  one  a  sun 
now  shines  upon.  Therefore  we  rightly  say, 
not  a  second  earth  or  globe,  but  a  second 
world,  —  another  beyond  the  universe.^ 

Remember  the  words  of  Professor  Nichol, 
who,  drawing  us  reverently  after  him,  to  gaze 
upon  the  unspeakable  glories  of  the  heavens. 


1 86  ANGEL    VOICES. 

The  heavens  declare  thy  glory. 

compared  with  whose  hght  all  knowledge  is 
but  as  the  faintest  star,  says  :  "  Grand  thoughts 
and  deeds,  as  well  as  physical  marvels,  spring 
up  without  apparent  parentage  in  our  world  ; 
but  angelic  natures  penetrate  to  their  birth- 
place, and  by  the  sight  are  strengthened  still 

further  to  adore In  the  vast  heavens,  as 

well  as  among  phenomena  around  us,  all 
things  are  in  a  state  of  change  and  progress  ; 
here  too,  —  on  the  sky,  —  in  splendid  hiero- 
glyphics, the  truth  is  inscribed,  that  the  grand- 
est forms  of  present  being  are  only  germs, 
swelling  and  bursting  with  a  life  to  come ! 
And  if  the  universal  fabric  is  thus  fixed  and 
constructed,  shall  aught  that  it  contains  be 
un-upheld  by  the  same  preserving  law  ?  is 
annihilation  a  possibility,  real  or  virtual, — 
the  stoppage  of  the  career  of  any  advancing 
being,  while  Hospitable  Infinitude  remains  ? 
No !  let  the  night  fall :  it  prepares  a  dawn 
w^hen  man's  weariness  shall  have  ceased,  and 
his  soul  be  refreshed  and  restored.  To  come ! 
To  every  creature  these  are  words  of  hope 
spoken  in  organ  tones :  our  hearts  suggest 
them,  and  the  stars  repeat  them,  and  through 
the  Infinite,  aspiration  wings  its  way,  rejoic- 
ingly, as  an  eagle  follows  the  sun." 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


187 


Where  your  treasure  is,  there  will  your  heart  be  also. 

Remember, 

When  engineers  would  bridge  a  stream, 
they  often  carry  over  at  first  but  a  single 
cord.  With  that,  next,  they  stretch  a  wire 
across.  Then  strand  is  added  to  strand,  until 
a  foundation  is  laid  for  planks  ;  and  now  the 
bold  engineer  finds  safe  footway,  and  walks 
from  side  to  side.  So  God  takes  from  us 
some  golden-threaded  pleasure,  and  stretches 
it  thence  to  heaven.  Then  he  takes  a  child, 
and  then  a  friend.  Thus  he  bridges  death, 
and  teaches  the  thoughts  of  the  most  timid  to 
find  their  way  hither  and  thither  between  the 
shores.^*' 

'T  is  but  one  family,  —  the  accents  come 

Like  light  from  heaven  to  break  the  night  of  woe, 

The  banner  ciy  to  call  the  spirit  home. 

The  shout  of  victory  o'er  a  fallen  foe. 

Death  never  separates  ;  the  golden  wires. 
That  ever  trembled  to  their  names  before. 
Will  vibrate  still,  though  every  form  expires. 
And  those  we  love  we  look  upon  no  more. 

No  more  indeed  in  sorrow  and  in  pain, 
But  even  memory's  need  erelong  will  cease, 
For  we  shall  join  the  lost  of  love  again. 
In  endless  bands,  and  in  eternal  peace.  '^^ 


And  remember,    neither   the  day   nor   the 


1 88  ANGEL    VOICES. 

The  master  calleth  for  thee. 

hour  knoweth  any  man.  "In  the  very  middle 
of  Spenser's  great  work  he  was  called  "  ;  and 
the  lines  that  happened  to  be  the  last  from 
his  pen  are  as  though  they  had  been  meant 
against  his  death  :  — 

For  all  that  moveth  doth  in  change  delight, 

But  thenceforth  all  shall  rest  eternally 

With  Him  that  is  the  God  of  Sabaoth  hight ; 

O,  that  great  Sabaoth  God,  grant  me  that  Sabbath's  sight 

Of  this  poet's  having  died,  I  do  not 

think.  And  it  is  as  though  Spenser  had  been 
changed  while  talking  with  me.  And  then  I 
think   how,    to  the  angels,   this   whole   earth 

looks  like  a  Mount  of  Transfiguration 

We  hear  a  poet  singing  ;  and  while  we  listen, 
we  are  bettered,  and  silent,  we  are  enraptured. 
Then  while  we  are  listening  so  eagerly,  the 
voice  dies  away  into  silence  and  into  heaven. 

Celestial  was  the  last  word  Keats  wrote, 

and  then  he  himself  became  it.** 

Ah  !  what  time  wilt  thou  come  ?  when  shall  that  crie, 

The  Bridegroome's  comming  !  fill  the  sky  ? 

Shall  it  in  the  evening  run, 

When  our  words  and  works  are  done  ? 

Or  will  thy  all-surprizing  light  ' 

Break  at  midnight, 
When  either  sleep,  or  some  dark  pleasure 
Possesseth  mad  man  without  measure  ? 


ANGEL    VOICES.  189 

Who  maketh  his  angels  spirits. 

Or  shall  these  early,  fragrant  hours 

Unlock  thy  bowers, 
And  with  their  blush  of  light  descry. 
Thy  locks  crown'd  witli  eternitie  ?  ** 

Rf.memrf.k, 

Although  we  are  accustomed  to  think  of 
heaven  as  distant,  of  this  we  have  no  proof 
Heaven  is  the  union,  the  society,  of  spiritual, 
higher  beings.  May  not  these  fill  the  uni- 
verse ?     Milton  has  said, 

"Millions  of  spiritual  beings  walk  the  earth, 
Both  when  we  wake  and  when  we  sleep. " 

A  new  sense,  a  new  eye,  might  show  the 
spiritual  world  compassing  us  on  every  side. 
Whilst  we  know  not  to  what  place  our  friends 
go,  we  know  what  is  infinitely  more  interest- 
ing, to  what  beings  they  go.  We  know  not 
where  heaven  is,  but  we  know  whom  it  con- 
tains ;  and  this  knowledge  opens  to  us  an 
infinite  field  for  contemplation  and  delight. 
They  who  are  born  into  heaven  go  not  only 
to  Jesus,  and  an  innumerable  company  of 
pure  beings  ;  they  go  to  God.  These  new 
relations  of  the  ascended  spirit  to  the  Uni- 
versal Father,  how  near !  how  tender !  how 
strong !  how  exalting  !  But  this  is  too  great 
a  subject  for  the  space  which  remains  ;    and 


IQO  ANGEL    VOICES. 

All  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice. 

yet  is  it  the  chief  element  of  the  felicity  of 
heaven.'"" 

"  Come  away  !  above  the  storm 
Ever  shines  the  blue  ; 
Come  away  !  beyond  the  form 
Ever  Ues  the  true." 

Every  man  I  part  with  is  a  soul  to  be  met 
again,  and  every  face  I  see  is  what  will  be 
bright  with  the  light  of  heaven  some  time, 
and  in  my  sight.     Duty  reaches  down  ages  in 

its  effects,  and  into  eternity Every  day 

the  world  is  ripening  against  that  harvest 
which  is  to  be  at  the  end  of  it ;  slowly  per- 
haps ;  and  yet  not  so  very  slowly,  considering 
what  the  fruits  of  it  are  to  be,  for  they  will 
be  eternal,  they  will  be  souls,  —  everlasting 
souls.*" 

In  some  hour  of  solemn  jubilee 
The  massy  gates  of  Paradise  are  thrown 
Wide  open,  and  forth  come,  in  fragments  wild. 
Sweet  echoes  of  unearthly  melodies, 
And  odors  snatched  from  beds  of  amaranth, 
And  they  that  from  the  crystal  river  of  life 
Spring  up  on  freshened  wing,  ambrosial  gales  ! 
The  favored  good  man  in  his  lonely  walk 
Perceives  them,  and  his  silent  spirit  drinks 
Strange  bliss,  which  he  shall  recognize  in  heaven." 
That  we,  with  sin  polluted, 

Should  have  our  home  so  high  ! 
That  we  should  dwell  in  mansions    • 
Beyond  the  starry  sky  ! 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


191 


Father,   1  will  that  they  be  with  me  where  I  am. 

And  now  we  fight  the  battle, 

And  then  we  wear  the  crown 
Of  full  and  everlasting 

And  ever  bright  renown.^"'' 

Remember, 

Faith,  Hope,  and  Love,  these  three,  but  the 

greatest  of  these  is  Love And  in  that 

there  is   all   comfort    for   them   that   hope  to 

meet  again O,  if  there  is  a  heaven  for 

our  faith,  there  are  friends  in  it  for  our  love. 
I  have  known  those  who  have  grown  holy 
through  thoughts  of  the  dead.  I  have  known 
one  who,  as  he  prayed,  always  felt,  as  it  were, 
the  presence  of  a  spirit  about  him,  —  one  of 
the  blessed  vanished.  And  it  was  in  her 
spirit  he  prayed,  and  was  earnest  in  prayer. 
Another  person  I  have  known,  to  whom  the 
meeting  of  her  husband  was  all  of  heaven, 
beside  God  ;  for  he  had  been  the  husband  of 
her  soul,  as  well  as  her  youth,  and  they  had 
suffered  much  together,  but  she  much  more 
by  herself  We  are  saved  by  hope,  and  some 
of  us  by  the  special  hope  of  being  with  our 
friends  again.  So  that  if  there  is  salvation 
by  hope,  our  friends  whom  we  so  hope  for  we 
shall  certainly  have  again.** 

Transition  into  the  divine  is  ever  woful,  yet 
it  is  life.  —  Bettina. 


192  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Jesus  said,  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life. 

They  who  die  in  Christ  are  blessed,  — 
Ours  be,  then,  no  thought  of  grieving  ! 

Sweetly  with  their  God  they  rest. 
All  their  toils  and  troubles  leaving. 

So  be  ours  the  faith  that  saveth, 

Hope  that  every  trial  leaveth, 

Love  that  to  the  end  endureth. 

And  through  Christ  the  crown  secureth.*'^ 

To  Death's  dark  land  some  heedless  go  ; 

But  there  was  One 
Who  searched  it  quite  through  to  and  fro. 
And  then,  returning  like  the  sun. 
Discovered  all  that  there  is  done. 

And  since  his  death  we  throughly  see 

All  the  dark  way  ; 
Those  shades  but  thin  and  narrow  be. 
Which  his  first  looks  will  quickly  fray  ; 
Mists  make  but  triumphs  for  the  day.** 

Remember, 

When  man  finds  that  if  he  would  do  God's 
will,  however  imperfectly,  he  must  offer  up 
this  continual  sacrifice,  the  sacrifice  of  Ids  own 
will,  his  thoughts  are  irresistibly  carried  to 
rest  upon  that  one  offering  up  of  a  higher 
than  any  human  will,  by  which  Christ  has 
perfected  forever  them  that  are  sanctified. 

The  more  deeply  we  feel  the  existing  con- 
tradiction between  God's  will  and  that  of  his 
creature,  the  deeper  becomes  our  sense  of  the 
need  of  somewhat  to  take  it  away,  so  that  the 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 93 

The  communion  of  saints. 

heart  draws  near  to  a  truth  unapproachable 
by  the  intellect,  —  the  necessary  death  of  Chnst. 
All  things  in  nature,  as  well  as  all  things  in 
grace,  point  to  a  Redeemer.  Nature  strug- 
gles, but  she  cannot  speak ;  she  remains  in 
bondage  with  her  children,  dumb  like  them, 
and  beautiful.  Humanity  has  found  a  voice, 
but  where,  save  for  Christ,  would  she  find  an 
answer.-*  She  has  showed  him  of  her  wound, 
her  grievous,  incurable  hurt,  and  how  has  he 
consoled  her .-'  Even  by  showing  her  his,  — 
"  Reach  hither  thy  hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my 
side.""* 

Remember. 

Unto  you  is  paradise  opened,  the  tree  of 
life  is  planted,  the  time  to  come  is  prepared, 
plenteousness  is  ready,  a  city  is  builded,  and 
rest  is  allowed,  yea,  perfect  goodness  and 
wisdom. 

Remember,  Soul !  out  of  this  straitened  and 
fiery  place  thou  shalt  escape,  — ■ 

And   thou   shalt  walk  in  soft,   white  light,  with  kings  and 

priests  abroad, 
And  thou  shalt  summer  high  in  bliss  upon  the  hills  of  God.  "" 

Remember, 
The  Divinity  is  already  very  near  to  that 


194  ANGEL    VOICES. 

As  he  lay  and  slept,  an  angel  touched  him. 

man  who  has  succeeded  in  collecting  all 
beauty  and  greatness,  all  excellence,  both  in 
the  small  and  great  of  nature,  and  in  evolving 
from  this  manifoldness  the  great  unity.  The 
whole  creation  sinks  into  his  personality.  If 
each  man  loved  all  men,  then  every  individual 
would  possess  the  world.^ 

Remembek 

The  vision  of  Dante,  who,  seeing  the  birds 
as  they  flew,  fall  dead,  questioned  of  that  fan- 
tasy. Then  one  answered  him,  "  Dost  thou 
not  know  .-*  Thy  wondrous  lady  has  departed 
from  this  world."  "  I  began,"  said  Dante,  "  to 
weep  very  piteously,  and  wept  not  only  in  im- 
agination, but  with  my  eyes,  bathing  them 
with  real  tears.  Then  I  imagined  that  I 
looked  toward  heaven,  and  it  seemed  to  me 
that  I  saw  a  multitude  of  angels  who  were 
returning  upwards,  having  before  them  a  little 
cloud  of  exceeding  whiteness.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  these  angels  sang  gloriously,  and  that 
the  words  of  their  song  were  these  :  '  Osanna 
in  Excelsis ! '  and  other  than  these  I  did  not 
hear. 

"  Then  the  heart  in  which  abode  such  great 
love  seemed  to  say  to  me,  '  True  is  it  that  our 
lady  lieth  dead.'     And  thereupon  I  seemed  to 


ANGEL    VOICES.  195 


God  is  a  spirit. 


go  to  behold  that  body  in  which  that  most 
noble  and  blessed  soul  had  been.  And  the 
erring  fancy  was  so  strong  that  it  showed  to 
me  this  lady  dead,  and  it  appeared  to  me  that 
ladies  were  covering  her  head  with  a  white 
veil,  and  that  her  face  had  such  an  aspect  of 
humility  that  it  seemed  to  say,  '  I  behold  the 
beginning  of  peace.""" 

Pure,  meek,  with  soul  serene. 
Sweeter  it  was  to  her  to  ser\'e  unseen 
Her  God,  than  reign  a  queen. 

Now  far  above  our  sight. 

Enthroned  upon  the  azure  star-paved  height, 

She  reigns  in  realms  of  light ; 

So  long  as  time  shall  flow 

Teaching  to  all  who  sit  on  thrones  below. 

The  good  that  power  can  do.*** 

Remember, 

The  joys  of  heaven  are  spiritual.  The 
fleshly-minded  think  more  of  the  chrysolites, 
the  amethysts,  the  sapphires,  with  which  the 
city  of  God  is  resplendent,  than  even  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who  is  himself  the  chief  glory  of 
that  house  not  made  with  hands ;  just  as 
their  Jewish  predecessors  esteemed  Christ's 
miracles  more  than  his  Messiahship,  and  the 


196  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Ye  also,  as  lively  stones,  are  built  up,  a  spiritual  house. 

twelve  baskets'  full  of  meat  more  than  that 
spirit  which  was  given  to  Jesus  without  meas- 
ure. So  they  be  of  a  purifying  tendency,  and 
spiritual  in  character,  our  hopes,  then,  cannot 
be  too  vast  to  be  Christian.  Eternity  is  the 
divine  treasure-house,  and  hope  is  the  window, 
by  means  of  which  mortals  are  permitted  to 
see,  as  through  a  glass  darkly,  the  things 
which  God  is  preparing.*" 

He  saw  through  hfe  and  death,  through  good  and  ill, 

He  saw  through  his  own  soul. 
The  marvel  of  the  everlasting  will, 

An  open  scroll, 

Before  him  lay.* 


Remember, 

It  is  impossible  to  be  a  hero  in  anything, 
unless  one  is  first  a  hero  in  faith.^^ 

Remember. 

In  claiming  a  personal  relation  with  God, 
nothing  exclusive  is  intended  ;  nay,  he  who 
thus  learns  he  is  loved  by  God,  learns  simul- 
taneously that  all  other  men  and  creatures 
are  also  loved.  That  is  an  important  lesson 
for  the  man's  external  action,  —  indeed,  is  a 
foundation  of  universal  love  in  the  soul  ;  but 
its  inward  movements  towards  God  proceed 


ANGEL    VOICES.  1 97 


By  faith  Enoch  was  translated,  that  he  should  not  see  death. 

exactly  as  if  there  were  no  other  creatures 
beside  itself  in  the  universe.  Thus  the  dis- 
covery that  //  loves  and  is  loved  in  turn,  pro- 
duces sensible  joy ;  in  some  natures  very 
powerful,  in  all  imparting  cheerfulness,  hope, 
vivacity.  The  personal  relation  sought  is  dis- 
cerned and  felt.  The  soul  understands  and 
knows  that  God  is  her  God,  dwelling  with  her 
more  closely  than  any  creature  can.  Yea, 
neither  stars  nor  sea  nor  smiling  Nature  hold 
God  so  intimately  as  the  bosom  of  the  soul. 
It  no  longer  seems  profane  to  say,  "  God  is 
my  bosom  friend  ;  God  is  for  me,  and  I  am 
for  him."  So  joy  bursts  into  praise,  and  all 
things  look  brilliant ;  and  hardship  seems 
easy,  and  duty  becomes  delight,  and  con- 
tempt is  not  felt,  and  every  morsel  of  bread 
is  sweet.*"* 

Death  is  upon  me,  yet  I  fear  not  now. 

Open  my  chamber  window,  —  let  me  look 

Upon  the  sunny  vales,  the  sunny  glow 

That  fills  each  alley,  close,  and  copsewood  nook. 

I  know  them,  love  them,  mourn  them  not  to  leave  ; 

Existence  and  its  change  my  spirit  cannot  grieve  I  "'^ 

Let  the  king 
Me  ever  into  these  his  cellars  bring, 
Where  flows  such  wine  as  we  can  have  of  none 
But  Him  who  trod  the  wine-press  all  alone ; 


198  ANCEL    VOICES. 

I  am  come  that  ye  might  have  life. 

Wine  of  youth's  life,  and  the  sweet  deaths  of  love  : 
Wine  of  immortal  mixture,  which  can  prove 
Its  tincture  from  the  rosy  nectar  j  wine 
That  can  exalt  weak  earth  ;  and  so  refine 
Our  dust,  that  at  one  draught  mortality 
May  drink  itself  up,  and  forget  to  die.*"* 


Ri-:Mi:i{sr.r:\}s\Q,  last  words  of  Jean  Paul :  — 

Life  is  not  flown  with  the  soul,  but  in  the 
soul,  which  lays  down  its  organic  sceptre. 
The  sceptre  releases  from  its  service  the  in- 
tellectual world  which  it  had  governed  till 
now,  or  rather  the  intellectual  world  aban- 
dons it. 

When  Faith  and  Love  which  parted  from  thee  never 
Had  ripened  thy  just  soul  to  dwell  with  God, 
Meekly  thou  didst  resign  this  earthly  load 
Of  death  called  life,  which  us  from  Life  doth  sever." 

Nations  and  men  are  only  the  best  when 
they  are  the  gladdest,  and  deserve  Heaven 
when  they  enjoy  it.** 

O  purblind  race  of  miserable  men. 
How  many  among  us  at  this  very  hour 
Do  forge  a  lifelong  trouble  for  ourselves. 
By  taking  true  for  false,  or  false  for  true  ; 
Here,  through  the  feeble  twilight  of  this  world 
Groping,  how  many,  until  we  pass  and  reach 
That  other,  where  we  see  as  we  are  seen  !  * 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


199 


I,   if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me. 

My  voice  that  long  hath  faltered,  shall  be  still. 
The  mystic  darkness  drops  from  Calvary's  liill 
Into  the  common  light  of  this  day's  sun.'* 


Rememhek, 

The  prayer  of  persevering  faith  is  a  hymn 
of  sacrifice  ;  the  sigh  of  sorrow  that  hopes  is 
a  chant  of  resignation,  "  the  desire  of  the 
night  for  the  morning,"  and  the  outgoing  of 
charity  is  one  prolonged  canticle  of  love  ! 

The  voice  that  sings  is  the  prayer  of  the 
world,  —  it  is  the  morning  hymn,  announcing 
the  awakening  of  the  ages,  as  the  song  of 
birds  heralds  the  opening  of  the  day ! 

The  martyrs  sang  amid  their  punishments, 
for  the  faith  in  their  souls  felt  itself  immortal, 
like  the  Phcenix,  and  resumed  a  new  youth 
amid  the  flames  of  the  stake.  The  poetry  of 
the  soul  awakens  harmonies  in  the  last  dying 
sighs  of  the  just,  and  sings,  like  the  swan  of 
our  fable,  its  passage  to  other  realms  of  life. 

Leave  in  tears  those  children  of  the  earth 
who  feel  but  present  pain,  nor  dream  of  good 
to  come.  But  you,  children  of  heaven,  poets 
of  charity,  of  hope  and  faith,  —  you,  who  could 
see  the  world  broken  to  pieces  without  ceas- 
ing to  bless  God  in  the  midst  of  its  ruins, 
prophet  consolers,  sing,  sing  ever. 


20O  ANGEL    VOICES. 

I  heard  the  voice  of  harpers  harping  with  their  harps : 

Let  US  love,  and  the  life  of  our  hearts  shall 
be  a  song-burst  of  goodness  towards  all ;  for 
love  is  all  harmony  ;  and  if  you  ask  me  what 
is  this  Voice  that  sings,  I  will  answer,  It  is 
the  Voice  of  Love,  the  Believer.'"* 

O  Thou  Eternal  banquet !  where 

Forever  we 

May  feed  without  satietie  ! 
Who  harmonic  art  to  the  eare  ! 
Who  art,  while  all  things  else  appeare  ! "' 

Remember, 

All  the  sweetest  songs  and  the  grandest 
and  most  touching  poetry  that  have  ever 
been  on  earth,  breathed  into  sound  or  written 
in  characters,  have  sprung  out  of  work  and 
strife,  sorrow  and  peril.  And  why  should  not 
a  new  song,  unknown  even  to  the  elder  ser- 
aphs, be  so  composed  and  framed  in  heaven, 
out  of  all  life's  trouble  and  disaster,  while 
the  mercy  of  God,  the  atoning  influence  of 
Christ,  all  heavenly  help  and  guidance  that 
they  have  received  in  their  struggles,  shall 
add  depth  and  melody  to  those  voices  of  the 
redeemed .-' " 

The  light  of  her  young  life  went  down, 

As  sinks  behind  the  hill 
The  glory  of  a  setting  star, 

Clear,  suddenly,  and  still. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  201 


And  they  sung  as  it  were  a  new  song  before  the  throne. 

As  pure  and  sweet  her  fair  brow  seemed, 

Eternal  as  the  sky  ; 
And  like  the  brook's  low  song  her  voice, 

A  sound  which  could  not  die. 

Sweet  promptings  unto  kindest  deeds 

Were  in  her  very  look  ; 
We  read  her  face  as  one  who  reads 

A  true  and  holy  book. 

The  measure  of  a  blessed  hymn, 
To  which  our  hearts  could  move  ; 

The  breathing  of  an  inward  psalm, 
A  canticle  of  love.^ 


Remembeh, 

Public  calamity  should  not,  as  theologians 

assert,  make  us  humble,  but  proud.  When 
the  long,  heavy  sword  of  war  sinks  down 
upon  mankind,  and  when  a  thousand  wan, 
cloven  hearts  bleed,  —  or  when  in  the  clear 
blue  evening  the  smoking,  hot  cloud  of  a  city 
thrown  upon  the  funeral  pile  hangs  darkly  in 
the  heavens,  as  it  were  the  clouds  of  dust  from 
a  thousand  hearts  and  joys,  lying  in  ashes,  — 
let  the  spirit  proudly  raise  itself  and  loathe 
the  tear,  and  that  for  which  it  falls,  and  let  it 
say:  "Thou  art  much  too  insignificant,  com- 
mon life,  for  the  disconsolateness  of  an  im- 
mortal, thou  life,  sent  and  deformed  in  the 
mass !  —  On  this  globe,  rounded  out  of  ashes 


202  ANGEL    VOICES. 

In  thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy. 

of  thousands  of  years,  under  these  earthly- 
storms  of  mist,  in  this  wailing  of  a  dream,  it 
is  a  shame  that  the  sigh  falls  into  dust  only 
with  its  breast,  and  not  sooner ;  and  the  tear 
only  with  its  eye  !  "  ^ 

The  many  waves  of  thought,  the  mighty  tides, 
The  ground-swell  that  rolls  up  from  other  lands, 

From  far-oflf  worlds,  from  dim,  eternal  shores. 
Whose  echo  dashes  on  life's  way-worn  strands,  — 

This  vague,  dark  tumult  of  the  inner  sea 

Grows  calm,  grows  bright,  O  risen  Lord,  in  thee  ! 

Thy  pierced  hand  guides  the  mysterious  wheels  ; 

Thy  thorn-crowned  brow  now  wears  the  crown  of  power ; 
And  when  the  dark  enigma  presseth  sore, 

Thy  patient  voice  saith,  "  Watch  with  me  one  hour  ! " 
As  sinks  the  moaning  river  in  the  sea, 
In  silver  peace,  — so  sinks  my  soul  in  Thee.^" 

Remember. 

The  happy  seasons  when  we  may  say,  "  My 
spirit  raises  itself  to-day  with  all  its  earthly 
strength,  —  I  lift  up  my  eyes  to  the  infinite 
world  beyond  this  life,  —  my  heart  of  dust, 
knit  to  a  purer  Fatherland,  beats  aloft  to  thy 
starry  heavens.  Thou  Infinite  Being,  to  the 
constellation  of  thy  boundless  form  ;  and  I 
became  great  and  eternal  through  thy  voice 
sounding  in  the  inmost,  noblest  feelings  of 
my  nature,  'Thou  shalt  never  perish.'" 


ANGEL    VOICES.  203 

At  thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  forevermore. 

Let  him  who  with  me  recollects  an  hour 
when  the  angel  of  peace  appeared  to  him,  and 
drew  beloved  souls  from  his  earthly  embrace, 

—  ah  !  let  him  who  remembers  an  hour  in 
which  he  lost  too  much,  subdue  his  languish- 
ing, and  with  me  look  steadfastly  to  the 
clouds  and  say,  "  Repose  continually  on  your 
clouds.  Ye  beloved  ones  who  have  been 
snatched  away  from  us,  ye  number  not  the 
centuries  that  flow  betwixt  your  evening  and 
your  morning ;  no  stone  lies  any  longer  on 
your  protected  hearts,  except  the  tombstone, 

—  and  that  presses  you  not,  —  and  never  does 
a  thought  on  us  disturb  your  rest." 

Deep  in  man  lies  a  something  unconquer- 
able, which  sorrow  only  benumbs,  but  does 
not  vanquish.  Therefore  it  is  that  he  sup- 
ports a  life,  in  which  the  best  of  us  bear  foli- 
age only  instead  of  fruits ;  therefore  it  is 
that  he  watches  out  almost  the  nights  of  this 
Western  globe,  wherein  the  objects  of  his  best 
affections  pass  over  his  loving  breast  into  a 
far-distant  land ;  while,  like  swans  that  fly 
through  Iceland's  gloomy  nights  with  tones 
of  the  violin,  they  leave  behind  to  the  present 
world  only  the  after-sounds  of  pleasing  recol- 
lections."* 


204  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Blessed  are  they  which  are  called  unto  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb. 

Heaven  is  no  flaming  lustre,  made  of  light ; 

No  sweet  content,  or  well-tuned  harmony  ; 
Ambrosia,  for  to  feast  the  appetite  ; 

Or  flowery  odor  mixed  with  spiceiy ; 

No  soft  embrace  or  pleasure  bodily. 
And  yet  it  is  a  kind  of  inward  feast, 
A  harmony  that  sounds  within  the  breast, 
An  odor,  light,  embrace,  in  which  the  soul  doth  rest. 

A  heavenly  feast  no  hunger  can  consume  ; 

A  light  unseen,  yet  shines  in  every  place ; 
A  sound  no  time  can  steal ;  a  sweet  perfume 

No  winds  can  scatter  ;  an  entire  embrace 

That  no  satiety  can  e'er  unlace  ; 
Ingraced  into  so  high  a  favor  there, 
The  saints  with  their  beaupeers  whole  worlds  outwear, 
And  things  unseen  do  see,  and  things  unheard  do  hear. 

Ye  blessed  souls,  grown  richer  by  your  spoil. 
Whose  loss,  though  great,  is  cause 
Of  greater  gains  ; 
Here  may  your  weary  spirits  rest  from  toil. 
Spending  your  endless  evening  that  remains 
Among  those  white  flocks  and  celestial  trains 
That  feed  upon  their  Shepherd's  eyes,  and  frame 
That  heavenly  music  of  so  wondrous  frame, 
Psalming  aloud  the  holy  honors  of  his  name  !  '°* 

Eternity  !  eternity ! 
How  long  art  thou.  Eternity  ! 
A  little  bird  with  fretting  beak 
•  Might  wear  to  naught  the  loftiest  peak, 

Though  but  each  thousand  years  it  came. 
Yet  thou  wert  then,  as  now,  the  same. 
Ponder,  O  man,  Eternity  I  "* 


ANGEL    VOICES.  205 

I  will  see  you  again,  and  your  heart  shall  rejoice. 

Remember. 

All  that  are  in  Christ  must  be  made  to 
drink  into  one  Spirit ;  yet  often,  perhaps,  must 
he  return  and  ask  his  chosen  ones,  "Are  ye 
able  to  drink  of  my  cup  ? "  before  that  free, 
calm  answer  can  be  given,  "We  are  able"; 
and  many  offerings  must  be  laid  upon  his 
altar  with  tears  and  weeping  before  the  sacri- 
fices of  joy  are  brought  there.  For,  as  Christ 
was  made  like  unto  us,  we  must  he  made  like 
tinto  him,  even  at  the  cost  of  much  that  is 
grievous  to  natural  feeling.  His  coming  with- 
in the  soul  is  the  bringing  in  of  a  new  order  ; 
and  when  was  there  a  painless  transition,  a 
bloodless  revolution .-' 

"  They  were  all  baptized  in  the  cloud  and 
in  the  sea"  ;  this  is  the  register  of  all  Christ's 
chosen  ones When  the  veil  of  the  tem- 
ple, even  this  poor  worn  garment  of  our 
Humanity,  is  rent  from  the  top  to  the  bottom, 
we  catch  glimpses  of  the  inner  glory :  the 
rocks  are  riven,  the  graves  open,  they  who 
have  long  slept  in  the  dust  come  forth  and 
reveal  to  us  awful  and  tender  secrets,  of  which 
otherwise  we  should  have  known  nothing.* 

R  E.MEM  HER. 

If  only  men's  sighs  lived  on  the   air,   we 


206  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Jesus  Christ  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever. 

could  not  bear  the  sound.  But  it  is  as  though 
God  did  hear  what  man  would  not  bear  to 
hear ;  for  to  his  nature  it  is  possible,  and  to 
his  almightiness  it  would  be  endurable,  and  in 
the  ear  of  his  foreknowledge  it  would  be  a 
sublime  sound  ;  for  as  he  listens  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting,  it  is  as  though  voices 
that  are  anguish  one  moment  are  crying  aloud 
with  all  angels  the  next.  But,  indeed,  with 
God,  past,  present,  and  future  are  one ;  and 
to  his  eyes,  in  the  sowing  of  tears,  there  is 
ripe  at  once  the  golden  harvest  of  joy.** 

I  got  me  flowers  to  strew  Thy  way  ; 

I  got  me  boughs  off  many  a  tree  ; 

But  Thou  wast  up  at  break  of  day, 

And  brought' st  thy  sweets  along  with  Thee. 

The  sun  arising  in  the  east, 

Though  he  give  light,  and  the  east  perfume  ; 

If  they  should  offer  to  contest 

With  Thy  arising,  they  presume. 

Can  there  be  any  day  but  this, 
Though  many  suns  to  shine  endeavor  ? 
"We  count  three  hundred,  but  we  miss  : 
There  is  but  one,  and  that  one  ever."* 

Wem  Zeit  ist  wie  die  Ewigkeit 
Und  Ewigkeit  ist  wie  die  Zeit 
Der  est  befreit  von  allem  Streit. 


ANGEL    VOICES.  20/ 

The  chariots  of  God  are  thousands  of  angels. 

Remember, 

They  are  the  chariots  of  His  will,  they  bear 
His  will  about  to  every  part  of  the  universe. 
This  is  their  delight.  They  bless  God  who 
vouchsafes  thus  to  employ  them.  But  when 
they  have  fulfilled  God's  message,  then  they 
return  back  to  Him,  and  stand  before  Him 
drinking  in  fresh  streams  of  life  and  strength 
and  purity  and  joy  from  His  presence.'" 

How  oft  do  they  their  silver  bowers  leave, 
To  come  to  succour  us  that  succour  want ! 
How  oft  do  they  with  golden  pinions  cleave 
The  flitting  skyes  like  flying  pursuivant, 
Against  fowle  fiends  to  ayd  us  militant  ! 
They  for  us  fight,  they  watch,  and  devvly  ward, 
And  their  bright  squadrons  round  about  us  plant, 
And  all  for  love  and  nothing  for  reward  ; 
O  why  should  heavenly  God  to  men  have  such  regard  I  -* 

Remember, 

Great  sufferers  in  this  world  are  not  very 
rare,  and  so  are  no  wonder  to  us  ;  but  our 
human  mysteries  are  mysteries  to  the  angels, 
and  things  they  desire  to  look  into.  Yet  a 
good  man's  suffering  must  be  the  wonder  of 
many  a  heavenly  dweller ;  he  having  himself 
been  formed  through  another  discipline  than 

that  of  endurance,  perhaps And  there 

are  heavenly  spirits,  to  whom  the  knowledge 


208  ANGEL    VOICES. 

God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes. 

of  our  righteous  sufferers  must  be  more  pro- 
phetic of  creative  newness  than  a  voice  would 
be,  if  heard  calling  down  the  depths  of  infin- 
ity, to  let  new  worlds  be  started.  Yes,  Paul, 
yes  !  Thy  Lord  and  Master,  and  mine,  —  if 
we  suffer  with  Him,  we  shall  be  also  glorified 
together.** 

A  host  of  angels  flying. 

Through  cloudless  skies  impelled, 

Upon  the  earth  beheld 
A  pearl  of  beauty  lying, 

Worthy  to  glitter  bright, 

In  heaven's  vast  halls  of  light. 

They  saw  with  glances  tender 

An  infant  newly  bom, 

O'er  whom  life's  earliest  mom 
Just  cast  its  opening  splendor  : 

Virtue  it  could  not  know. 

Nor  vice,  nor  joy,  nor  woe. 

The  blest  angelic  legion 

Greeted  its  birth  above, 

And  came,  with  looks  of  love, 
From  heaven's  enchanting  region  ; 

Bending  their  winged  way 

To  where  the  infant  lay. 

They  spread  their  pinions  o'er  it,  — 

That  little  pearl  which  shone 

With  lustre  all  its  own,  — 
And  then  on  high  they  bore  it. 

Where  glory  has  its  birth  ; 

But  left  the  shell  on  earth.''* 


ANGEL    VOICES.  209 

He  turneth  the  shadow  of  de^th  into  morning. 

Love  strong  as  death  measures  eternity. 


Two  worlds  there  are.     To  one  our  eyes  we  strain, 
Whose  magic  joys  we  shall  not  see  again  ; 

Bright  haze  of  morning  veils  its  glimmering  shore. 

Ah,  truly  breathed  we  there 

Intoxicating  air,  — 
Glad  were  our  hearts  in  that  sweet  realm  of  Nevermore. 

Upon  the  frontier  of  this  shadowy  land 
We,  pilgrims  of  eternal  sorrows,  stand  ; 

What  realm  lies  forward,  with  its  happier  store 

Of  forests  green  and  deep. 

Of  valleys  hushed  in  sleep, 
And  lakes  most  peaceful  ?     'T  is  the  land  of  Evermore. 

They  whom  we  loved  and  lost  so  long  ago 
Dwell  in  those  cities  far  from  mortal  woe,  — ■ 

Haunt  those  fresh  woodlands,  whence  sweet  caroUings  soar. 

Eternal  peace  have  they  : 

God  wipes  their  tears  away  : 
They  drink  that  river  of  life  which  flows  for  Evermore.'™ 

Remember. 

O  man,  take  now  this  light  of  Hfe,  which 
was  in  the  Word,  and  is  eternal ;  and  behold 
the  Being  of  all  beings,  and  especially  thyself: 
seeing  thou  art  an  image,  life,  and  derive  thy 
being  of  the  unsearchable  God  ;  and  a  like- 
ness as  to  him.  Here  consider  time  and  eter- 
nity ;  heaven  and  hell  ;  this  world  ;  light  and 
darkness ;    pain,    and    the    source ;    life    and 


210  ANGEL    VOICES. 


Understand  thou  for  thyself. 


death.  Here  examine  thyself,  whether  thou 
hast  the  light  and  life  of  the  Word  in  thee ; 
so  shalt  thou  be  able  to  see  and  understand 
all  things  ;  for  thy  life  was  in  the  Word,  and 
was  made  manifest  in  the  image  which  God 
created ;  it  was  breathed  into  it  from  the 
Spirit  of  the  Word."' 

Remrmbrk, 

The  heart  accepts  Christ  because  it  needs 
him,  even  while  the  mind  may  be  unable  to 
receive  him  fully,  because  the  orbit  of  this  star 
is   so    extended    as   to   carry   it   beyond   the 

sphere  of  human  intelligence Enough 

to  learn  that  we  shall  find  no  higher  thing 
above,  shall  pierce  to  no  deeper  thing  below, 
than  the  cross  and  its  solemn  and  tender 
teachings.  If  we  would  climb  up  into  heaven, 
it  is  there ;  if  we  would  go  down  into  hell,  it 
is  there  also.  He  alone  among  men  who  has 
clasped  this  great  mystery  of  grief  and  love 
to  his  bosom  sees,  if  it  be  as  yet  but  through 
a  glass  darkly,  how  pain  and  love,  yes,  joy 
also,  all  things  that  have  a  living  root  in  hu- 
manity, come  to  bloom  under  its  shadow. 
And  how  love  that  cannot  die,  and  faith  that 
grows  to  certainty,  and  hope  that  maketh  not 


ANGEL    VOICES.  211 

Seek  out  the  glory  for  such  as  be  like  thee. 

ashamed,  root  themselves  about  it  with  all  fair 
things  that  wither  in  life,  and  noble  things  for 
which  it  has  no  room.  "  I  took,"  said  Luther, 
"for  the  symbol  of  my  theology  a  seal  on 
which  I  had  engraven  a  cross  with  a  heart  in 
its  centre ;  the  cross  is  black,  to  indicate  the 
sorrows,  even  unto  death,  through  which  the 
Christian  must  pass,  but  the  heart  preserves  its 
natural  color,  for  the  cross  does  not  extinguish 
nature,  it  does  not  kill,  but  gives  life.  Justus 
fide  vivet  sed  fide  crucifixi.  The  heart  is 
placed  in  the  midst  of  a  white  rose,  which 
signifies  the  joy,  peace,  and  consolation  that 
faith  gives  ;  but  the  70se  is  white,  not  red,  be- 
cause it  is  not  the  joy  and  peace  of  the  world, 
but  that  of  spirits." 

"Whoso  is  wise  will  ponder  these  things, 
and  he  shall  understand  the  loving-kindness 
of  the  Lord.'*" 

They  are  all  gone  into  the  world  of  light ! 

And  I  alone  sit  lingering  here  ! 
Their  very  memory  is  fair  and  bright, 

And  my  sad  thoughts  doth  clear. 

He  that  hath  found  some  fledged  bird's  nest  may  know 

At  first  sight  if  the  bird  be  flown  ; 
But  what  fair  dell  or  grove  he  sings  in  now, 

That  is  to  him  unknown.  ^ 


212  ANGEL    VOICES. 

The  world  passeth  away,  and  the  lusts  thereof; 

Rememukr, 

The  withdrawal  of  a  friend  from  our  side 
is  a  special  providence,  even  for  ourselves. 
Never  does  the  grave  take  hold  of  a  mortal's 
feet,  but  his  companion  hath  an  omnipresent 
eye  the  while  fixed  on  him  in  compassion. 
We  should  think  of  that  eye,  as  well  as  of  the 
hand  that  taketh  away.  Meditation  on  the 
dead  quickens  our  faith  in  the  unseen,  for 
sorrow  hath  a  sacred  efficacy  ;  there  being  no 
touch  so  purifying  as  that  of  a  dead  man's 
hand ;  and  few  living  objects  having  such 
regenerative  power  as  the  sight  of  a  fellow- 
mortal's  death.* 

Virtue  thus 
Sets  forth  and  magnifies  herself ;  thus  feeds 
A  calm,  and  beautiful,  and  silent  fire, 
From  the  encumbrances  of  mortal  life, 
From  error,  disappointment,  nay,  from  guilt. '^ 

Let  us  awake  to  righteousness !  May 
Christ  present  us,  one  and  all,  faultless  before 
God's  throne !  And  at  our  solemn  trial  may 
all  the  earthly  witness  proffered  be  that  of 
our  good  works,  such  as  do  follow  the  blessed 
dead  that  die  in  the  Lord  !* 

Flowers  gathered  in  this  world  die  here  ;  if  thou 
Wouldst  have  a  wreath  that  fades  not,  let  them  grow. 
And  grow  for  thee.     Who  spares  them  here  shall  find 
A  garland  where  comes  neither  rain  nor  wind." 


ANGEL    VOICES.  213 


He  that  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  forever. 

The  best  thing  in  being  man,  after  all,  is 
that  the  good  which  we  have  enjoyed  does 
not  perish  from  us,  —  that  it  establishes  itself 
within  and  around  us,  propagates  itself,  mul- 
tiplies ;  and  that  thus  we  acquire  ever  more 
power  for  greater  enjoyment."^ 


No  more,  in  heaven  no  more 
That  face  a  shadow  bears, 

But  looks  of  light,  bom  of  a  bliss 
Unknown  to  earth,  it  wears. 

No  more,  in  heaven  no  more 
That  voice  is  faint  with  pain  ; 

It  mingles  with  angelic  bards. 
In  their  enraptured  strain. 

No  more,  in  heaven  no  more 
The  parting  grief  is  known  ; 

But  love  has  all  eternity 

To  look  through  as  its  own.'"^ 


Remembek, 

Man  feels  himself  to  be  greater  than  the 
universe,  yet  feebler  than  the  meanest  thing 
within  it  which  can  follow  the  appointed  law 
of  its  being.  The  splendor  also  of  his  mate- 
rial acquisitions  is  but  a  robe  too  short  and 
thin  to  wrap  him  from  cold  and  shame.'" 


214  ANGEL    VOICES. 

They  are  not  of  the  world,  even  as  I  am  not  of  the  world. 

Remember, 

There  is  a  sadness  in  all  Idealism  ;  it  lifts 
the  soul  into  a  region  where  it  cannot  now 
dwell ;  it  must  return  to  earth,  and  it  is  hard 
for  it  not  to  do  so  at  the  shock  of  a  keen 
revulsion,  the  dashing  of  the  foot  against  a 
stone.  But  in  no  life  does  the  secret  of  all 
tragedy,  the  conflict  between  the  will  and  the 
circumstance,  so  unfold  itself  as  in  that  of  the 
Christian  ;  he,  of  all  men,  feels  and  mourns 
over  that  sharp,  ever-recurring  contrast  of  our 
existence,  —  the  glorious  capabilities,  the  lim- 
ited attainments,  of  man's  nature  and  destiny 
below.^ 

''  Worlcfs  use  is  cold,  world'' s  love  is  vain, 

IVorWs  cruelty  is  bitter  bane, 
But  pain  is  not  the  fruit  of  pain. 

I  am  content  to  be  so  bare 

Before  the  archers,  everywhere 

My  wounds  being  stroked  by  heavenly  air.'*' 

Remember, 

The  sphere  of  the  soul  is  then  luciform, 
when  the  soul  is  neither  extended  to  anything 
(external),  nor  inwardly  concurs  with  it,  nor  is 
depressed  by  it,  but  is  illuminated  with  a  light 
by  which  she  sees  the  truth  of  all  things,  and 
the  truth  that  is  in  herself"* 


ANGEL    VOICES.  21 5 

Whosoever  will,  let  him  come  and  drink  of  the  water  of  life  freely. 

Remember, 

Between  these  two  magnificent  notes  rolls 
the  anthem  of  God's  mercy.  "Whosoever 
will"  !  That  is  the  beginning  and  the  ending. 
Let  every  Christian  heart  respond  in  those 
final  and  sublimest  words  of  revelation,  — 
"Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus!""* 


Remember 

This  experience,  common,  at  an  earlier  or 
later  age,  to  all  humanity,  and  remember  the 
mortal    sorrow   as    an    immortal    blessedness. 

Thou,   around  whose  ample  brow,  as 

often  as  thy  sweet  countenance  rises  in  the 
darkness,  I  fancy  a  tiara  of  light  or  a  gleam- 
ing aureola  in  token  of  thy  premature  intel- 
lectual grandeur, thou  too  wert  sum- 
moned away  from  our  nursery ;  and  the  night 
which  for  me  gathered  upon  that  event  ran 
after  my  steps  far  into  life  ;  and  perhaps  at 
this  day  I  resemble  little  for  good  or  for  ill 
that  which  else  I  should  have  been.  Pillar  of 
fire  that  didst  go  before  me  to  guide  and  to 
quicken,  —  pillar  of  darkness,  when  thy  coun- 
tenance was  turned  away  to  God,  that  didst 
too  truly  reveal  to  my  dawning  fears  the 
secret   shadow  of  death,  —  by  what   mysteri- 


2l6  ANGEL    VOICES. 


Unto  him  that  is  able  to  keep  us  from  falling,  and  to  present  us 

ous  gravitation  was  it  that  my  heart  had  been 
drawn  to  thine  ?  Could  a  child  six  years  old 
place  any  special  value  upon  intellectual  for- 
wardness ? Hadst  thou  been  an  idiot, 

my  sister,  I  must  have  loved  thee,  having  that 

capacious  heart ! This  it  was  which 

crowned  thee  with  beauty  and  power. 

"  Love,  the  holy  sense, 
Best  gift  of  God,  in  thee  was  most  intense." 

Rightly  it  is  said  of  utter,  utter  mis- 
ery, it  "  cannot  be  remembered." On  the 

day  after  my  sister's  death,  whilst  the  sweet 
temple  of  her  brain  was  yet  unviolated  by 
human  scrutiny,  I  formed  my  own  scheme  for 

seeing  her  once  more I  imagine  that  it 

was  about  an  hour  after  high  noon  when  I 
reached  the  chamber  door ;  it  was  locked,  but 
the  key  was  not  taken  away.  Entering,  I 
closed  the  door  so  softly  that,  although  it 
opened  upon  a  hall  which  ascended  through 
all  the  stories,  no  echo  ran  along  the  silent 
walls.  Then,  turning  round,  I  sought  my  sis- 
ter's face.  But  the  bed  had  been  moved,  and 
the  back  was  now  turned  towards  myself 
Nothing  met  my  eye  but  one  large  window, 
wide  open,  through  which  the  sun  of  midsum- 


ANGEL    VOICES.  21/ 

faultless  before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with  his  holy  angels. 

mer  at  midday  was  showering  down  torrents 
of  splendor.  The  weather  was  dry,  the  sky 
was  cloudless,  the  blue  depths  seemed  the  ex- 
press types  of  infinity  ;  and  it  was  not  pos- 
sible for  eye  to  behold  or  for  heart  to  conceive 
any  symbols  more  pathetic  of  life  and  the 
glory  of  life. From  the  gorgeous  sun- 
light I  turned  around  to  the  corpse.  There 
lay  the  sweet,  childish  figure  ;  there  the  angel 
face  ;  and,  as  people  usually  fancy,  it  was  said 
in  the  house  that  no  features  had  suffered  any 
change.  Had  they  not  .-*  The  forehead,  in- 
deed, the  serene,  noble  forehead,  —  that  might 
be  the  same  ;  but  the  frozen  eyelids,  the  dark- 
ness that  seemed  to  steal  from  beneath  them, 
the  marble  lips,  the  stiffening  hands,  laid  palm 
to  palm,  as  if  repeating  the  supplications  of 
closing  anguish,  —  could  these  be  mistaken  for 
life }  Had  it  been  so,  wherefore  did  I  not 
spring  to  those  heavenly  lips  with  tears  and 
never-ending  kisses .''  But  so  it  was  not.  I 
stood  checked  for  a  moment ;  awe,  not  fear, 
fell  upon  me  ;  and,  whilst  I  stood,  a  solemn 
wind  began  to  blow,  —  the  saddest  that  ear 
ever  heard.  It  was  a  wind  that  might  have 
swept  the  fields  of  mortality  for  a  thousand 
centuries.     Many  times    since,    upon  summer 


2l8  ANGEL    VOICES. 

To  the  only  wise  God  be  honor  and  glory. 

days,  when  the  sun  is  about  the  hottest,  I 
have  remarked  the  same  wind  arising,  and 
uttering  the  same  hollow,  solemn,  Memno- 
nian,  but  saintly  swell ;  it  is  in  this  world  the 

one   great  audible  symbol  of  eternity 

Grief!  thou  art  classed  among  the  depressing 
passions.  And  true  it  is  that  thou  humblest 
to  the  dust,  but  also  thou  exaltest  to  the 
clouds.  Thou  shakest  as  with  ague,  but  also 
thou  steadiest  as  with  frost.  Thou  sickenest 
the  heart,  but  also  thou  healest  its  infirmi- 
ties  

On  Sunday  mornings  I  went  with  the  rest 
of  my  family  to  church ;  it  was  a  church  on 
the  ancient  model  of  England,  having  aisles, 
galleries,  organ,  all  things  ancient  and  vener- 
able, and  the  proportions  majestic.  Here, 
whilst  the  congregation  knelt  through  the 
long  litany,  as  often  as  we  came  to  that  pas- 
sage, so  beautiful  amongst  many  that  are  so, 
where  God  is  supplicated  on  behalf  of  "all 
sick  persons  and  young  children,"  and  that  he 
would  "  show  his  pity  upon  all  prisoners  and 
captives,"  I  wept  in  secret ;  and,  raising  my 
streaming  eyes  to  the  upper  windows  of  the 
galleries,  saw,  on  days  when  the  sun  was  shin- 
ing, a  spectacle  as  affecting  as  ever  prophet 


ANGEL    VOICES.  219 


To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life, 

can  have  beheld.  The  sides  of  the  windows 
were  rich  with  storied  glass  ;  through  the  deep 
purples  and  crimsons  streamed  the  golden 
light ;  emblazonries  of  heavenly  illuminations 
(from  the  sun)  mingling  with  the  earthly  em- 
blazonries (from  art  and  its  gorgeous  coloring) 
of  what  is  grandest  in  man.  There  were  the 
apostles  that  had  trampled  upon  earth  and 
the  glories  of  earth,  out  of  celestial  love  to 
man.  There  were  the  martyrs  that  had  borne 
witness  to  the  truth  through  flames,  through 
torments,  and  through  armies  of  fierce,  insult- 
ing faces There  were  the  saints  who, 

under  intolerable  pangs,  had  glorified  God  by 
meek  submission  to  his  will.  And  all  the 
time,  whilst  this  tumult  of  sublime  memorials 
held  on  as  the  deep  chords  from  some  accom- 
paniment in  the  bass,  I  saw  through  the  wide, 
central  field  of  the  window,  where  the  glass 
was  uncolored,  white,  fleecy  clouds  sailing 
over  the  azure  depths  of  the  sky  :  were  it  but 
a  fragment  or  a  hint  of  such  a  cloud,  immedi- 
ately, under  the  flash  of  my  sorrow-haunted 
eye,  it  grew  and  shaped  itself  into  visions  of 
beds  with  white  lawny  curtains  ;  and  in  the 
beds  lay  sick  children,  dying  children,  that 
were  tossing  in  anguish,  and  weeping  clamor- 


220  ANGEL    VOICES. 

which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God. 

ously  for  death.  God,  for  some  mysterious 
reason,  could  not  suddenly  release  them  from 
their  pain  ;  but  he  suffered  the  beds,  as  it 
seemed,  to  rise  slowly  through  the  clouds ; 
slowly  the  beds  ascended  into  the  chambers 
of  the  air ;  slowly,  also,  his  arms  descended 
from  the  heavens,  that  he  and  his  young  chil- 
dren, w^hom  in  Palestine,  once  and  forever,  he 
had  blessed,  though  they  must  pass  slowly 
through  the  dreadful  chasm  of  separation, 
might  yet  meet  the  sooner.  These  visions 
were  self-sustained.  These  visions  needed 
not  that  any  sound  should  speak  to  me,  or 
music  mould  my  feelings.  The  hint  from  the 
litany,  the  fragment  from  the  clouds,  —  those 
and  the  storied  windows  were  sufficient.  But 
not  the  less  the  blare  of  the  tumultuous  organ 

wrought   its   own  separate  creations 

Sometimes  I  seemed  to  rise  and  walk  tri- 
umphantly upon  those  clouds  which,  but  a 
moment  before,  I  had  looked  up  to  as  me- 
mentos of  prostrate  sorrow ;  yes,  sometimes, 
under  the  transfiguration  of  music,  felt  of 
grief  itself  as  of  a  fiery  chariot  for  mounting 
victoriously  above  the  causes  of  grief."^ 

Remember. 

Heaven  will  be  inherited  by  every  one  who 


ANGEL    VOICES.  221 

She  hath  received  a  glorious  kingdom. 

has  heaven  in  the  soul.  "  The  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  you.""* 

Happy  we  are  ! 

For  though  we  stand  alone, 

Like  the  disciples  gazing  up  to  Heaven, 

Toward  our  ascended  one. 

We  know  that  God,  who  takes  what  he  has  given, 

Never  a  soul  forsakes. 

And  surely  gives  again  that  which  he  takes. 

He  who  has  passed  above  the  sky 

Has  gone  in  time,  comes  in  eternity. 

His  young  feet  pressed  death's  portal  without  fear, 
To  lift  our  deathlike  thoughts  and  bring  Heaven  near. 

No  creeping  doubts  perplexed  us, 

In  those  life-laden  hours  ; 
The  boy  lay  teaching  better  things, 

A  flower  begirt  with  flowers.  ^" 

Remembei:, 

There  are  moments  in  the  Christian  life 
upon  which  the  spoil  of  a  long  conflict  seems 
heaped,  in  which  it  can  rejoice  even  with  the 

joy  of  a  late  yet  abounding  harvest 

Light  is  good,  and  it  is  a  pleasant  thing  to 
behold  the  sun.  Yet  far  dearer  than  outward 
peace,  far  sweeter  than  inward  consolation,  is 
that  the  ever-during  stay,  the  solace  of  the 
Christian's  heart,  the  imperishable  root  of 
which   all    else   that   gladdens   it   is   but  the 


222  ANGEL    VOICES. 


And  a  beautiful  crown  from  the  Lord's  hand. 

bloom  and  odor ;  the  dry  tree  that  shall  flour- 
ish when  every  green  tree  of  delight  and 
desire  fails.  It  is  to  the  Cross  that  the  heart 
must  turn  for  that  which  will  reconcile  it  to 
all  conflicts,  all  privations  ;  which  will  even 
enable    it,  foreseeing   tJieni,  to  exclaim,  "  Yet 

more." Let  this  powerful  attraction  be 

once  felt,  the  heart's,  the  world's  great  and 
final  Overcoming,  and  all  other  bonds  will 
weaken,  all  other  spells  decay.  "  Midnight  is 
past,"  sings  the  sailor  on  the  Southern  Ocean. 
^'Midnight  is  past,  the  Cross  begins  to  bejid:' 
"  Thou  art  gone  up  on  high ;  thou  hast  led 
captivity  captive."^ 

Rememhek. 

The  glory  of  our  promise  is  "  unspeakable." 
Conceive  a  translation  to  Heaven,  and  a  return 
from  thence.  How  would  a  man  describe 
the  things  seen  and  heard .''  In  the  fourth 
chapter  of  Revelation  the  attempt  is  made, 
but  it  instantly  takes  the  form  of  symbols 
and  figures.  A  throne  is  there,  and  One  is 
there  like  a  jasper  and  a  sardine  stone  ;  a 
rainbow  like  an  emerald  encircles  all.  Seven 
Spirit  Lamps  are  burning ;  the  lightnings  and 
thunderings  and  voices  are  heard,  and  the  sea 
of  glass  shines  like  a  crystal.     Thus  did  the 


ANGEL    VOICES. 


All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God. 


writer  in  high  symbolic  language  attempt,  in- 
adequately, to  shadow  forth  the  glory  which 
his  spirit  realized,  but  which  his  sense  saw  not. 
For  heaven  is  not  scenery,  nor  anything  ap- 
preciable by  ear  or  eye.  Heaven  is  God  felt. 
God  dwells  in  thick  darkness.  Silence  knows 
more  of  Him  than  speech.  His  Name  is  Se- 
cret ;  therefore  beware  how  you  profane  His 
stillnesses.  To  each  of  His  servants  He  giveth 
"  a  white  stone,  and  in  the  stone  a  new  name 
written,  which  no  man  knoweth  saving  he  that 
receiveth  it.""' 

Remember, 

Man  is  higher  than  his  place  ;  he  looks  up- 
ward and  uncloses  the  wings  of  his  soul ;  and 
when  the  sixty  minutes,  .which  we  call  sixty 
years,  have  finished  striking,  he  arises  and 
kindles  whilst  he  mounts,  and  the  ashes  of  his 
plumage  fall  back,  and  the  unveiled  soul  arrives 
alone,  without  earth,  and  pure  as  music,  on 
high.  But  here,  in  the  midst  of  his  darkened 
life,  he  sees  the  mountains  of  the  future  world 
standing  in  the  morning-gold  of  a  sun  which, 
here  below,  does  not  ascend.  Thus  the  in- 
habitant on  the  North  Pole,  in  the  long 
night,  when  the  sun  no  longer  rises,  espies, 
nevertheless,  at  twelve  o'clock,  a  morning-red 


224  ANGEL    VOICES. 

Is  it  well  with  the  child?    And  she  answered,  It  is  well. 

gilding  the  highest  mountains  ;  and  he  thinks 
on  his  long  summer,  wherein  the  sun  never 
sets."* 

Nosegays  \  leave  them  for  the  waking  ! 

Throw  them  earthward,  where  they  grew  ; 
Dim  are  such  beside  the  breaking 
Amaranths  he  looks  into  ; 
Folded  eyes  see  brighter  colors  than  the  open  ever  do. 

We  should  see  the  spirits  singing 

Round  thee,  were  the  clouds  away  ; 
'T  is  the  child-heart  draws  them,  singing 
In  the  silent-seeming  clay,  — 
Singing  !    Stars  that  seem  the  mutest  go  in  music  all  the  way. 


